Samut Prakan Municipality mayor Chonsawas Asavahame has been charged with illegal detention and failing to submit to a breath test for alcohol.

Two aides have been charged, too. They have fled.

The charges stem from an alleged drunken brawl with police officers at a New Phetchaburi Road traffic checkpoint on Sunday night.

Chonsawas is a son of former deputy interior minister Vatana Asavahame.

Makkasan police commander Maj-General Manit Wongsom-boon alleged Chonsawas locked Lance Corporal Prarob Saengnil in a petrol station near the checkpoint and then a motor-vehicle showroom.

Chonsawas is said to have a residence in the petrol station.

Chonsawas refused to submit to a breath-alcohol test at the checkpoint after officers stopped him for speeding and erratic driving, he said. Manit said a charge of assaulting a police officer had been dropped.

It has been reported a well-known model was in the vehicle along with two other women.

Manit said Chonsawas would be questioned about the incident and the identity of his aides.

He said the women were not involved and would not be called as witnesses.

Prarob has returned to duty. He claimed to have received a telephoned death threat following the incident.

Chonsawas said in a television interview he had security-camera recordings of the incident that proved he did not assault any officer.

"It shows I never touched anyone.

"The footage records everything from start to finish. It proves what I say," he said.

Prarob claimed Chonsawas said: "Who are you? And you don't know who my father is?"

But the Samut Prakan mayor dismissed this, saying he did not use such tactics because he was elected to serve the people.

He denied being drunk. He said he wore short trousers and casual attire at the time, something he did not do when going out for a drink.

When asked about the three women in his car, Chonsawas said: "What models? I am puzzled. They are not models, just friends."