Bday Prang

So they equate having money and power with being a good person. I always suspected that. And those who consider themselves rich and powerful don't like to be considered second class , No surprises there either. A more enlightened comment would have been something along the lines of..." There are millions and millions of people who visit Thailand every year, its a vital part of our economy, naturally there will always be problems and misunderstandings but thankfully events like this are very very rare,"

Sound advice, for anybody considering behaving in a similar manner in the future, Although better advice would be simply "don't do it "

A very sweeping statement , but I would suggest there are certain circumstances where one would be applauded for doing just that. Although I very much doubt that was the case in this incident

Regardless of what they did or didn't say, had the armed cop seriously wanted to kill them (which I doubt was ever his intention ) they would probably be dead, and the cop, would have some serious explaining to do on his way to an "inactive post" He may have threatened to shoot them , but the traditional and common sense response would be to put ones hands in the air . Regardless of what actually happened the Police will have no trouble putting this to bed and appearing totally innocent, which they probably are in all fairness, likewise the media's coverage of this is totally predictable and who could blame them

Thousands of people, both foreigners and Thais ride motorbikes without a licence here , its a common misdemeanor here, and not really a big deal. In view of that their behaviour was unbelievably stupid in the extreme, effectively upping the ante considerably from a fine of a few hundred baht. But as has been said before, consider how stupid the average person is and then understand that half of the world's population is even more stupid than that

And firearms should be used as a last resort, and in my opinion only when faced with an armed assailant, there are other options available, mace spray and tazers for example, He had his gun out and ready to fire, had he shot either or both of them it would be a completely different story.

is there really such a thing as a "fine weapon" personally i find them all revolting

I know nothing about guns but apparently it was a Sig Sauer

The" maximum" penalty for assaulting a police officer in the uk has recently been increased, to just two years imprisonment, hardly "big trouble" https://www.oblaw.co.uk/assaulting-a-police-officer-sentencing-guidelines/#:~:text=The guidelines have recently been,extended to 2 years custody. its pretty pathetic really considering what is expected of the police, personally I would have expected the penalty to be much more severe, Even in the UK assaults on police are relatively common particularly during protests were the anger of the demonstrators is often directed at the police. One on one assaults like this are however relatively rare IN Thailand (from a previous post) ..."Section 138 of the Criminal Law: attacking or obstructing an officer who is on duty. The penalty is imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to 20,000 baht, or both" which also seems over lenient considering that for assaulting a civilian (from the same post)...the penalty is double....Section 295 of the Criminal Law: physically assaulting another person. The penalty is imprisonment of up to two years, a fine of up to 40,000 baht, or both. of course were foreigners are involved they can also deport and blacklist, but that's only a worry for those who wish to return here,

I'll take your word for it, presumably some who need to carry firearms need to have them ready to fire at a moments notice, However , as most Thai cops probably never have reason to even think about drawing their weapons in anger , I can't see why any of them would elect to have a weapon without a safety catch. Seems downright dangerous to me , I would have expected there to be a list of guns approved for police use, and that a safety catch would be a key requirement. But then again......

Well if "Mrs T" is not impressed it certainly won't end well for them. Mrs B on the other hand remains slightly amused and pretty much ambivalent regarding the whole incident despite her two brothers , her two brothers in law , her uncle, and two of her cousins being serving police officers. I have no idea what training the police actually receive regarding the use of firearms, but I would imagine they are told not to draw their weapon unless its absolutely necessary, probably also told not to point it at anything they don't fully intend to kill, and are almost certainly told to keep the safety catch on until they intend to actually shoot it. That would be pretty much in line with what a group of us were told when we were invited to spend an afternoon at the police shooting range a few years ago. Maybe firearms protocol has changed these days I really have no idea

I'm assuming he part of the video showing them stood by the motorcycles surrounded by police was taken after them wrestling the gun from the officer, due to his dishevelled appearance, but it looked a little strange to me, considering what had just allegedly taken place I would have expected the two guys to be at least restrained in handcuffs and possibly pinned to the floor by the other cops if only to prevent further possibly violent resistance. It certainly looks like the cop had his gun in his hand when it was taken from him, which implies he had drawn his weapon, hardly standard procedure when dealing with unarmed tourists who had merely failed to stop at a checkpoint Whilst none of us here know exactly what happened, my guess is that after the cop caught up with them, an argument ensued which rapidly escalated and got out of hand, the cop drew his gun probably in an attempt to intimidate, as I doubt he was in fear of his life, Most people would have complied immediately when faced by a cop with a loaded gun, it would be normal to think that obeying his instructions would be the safest course of action, why these two didn't is as yet still a mystery, but their reaction implies to me they were genuinely in fear of being shot by what they considered to be a rogue cop, The fact that one round was fired means that the safety catch had already been switched off, I'm no expert in gun protocol, but it would appear to me that he obviously meant business, The guys obviously know a bit about guns, most people would not have a clue how to remove the clip and empty the bullets, maybe they saw him switch off the safety and genuinely feared he was going to use it. That's the only explanation I can think of for their behaviour I have never heard of any tourist , now matter how unsavoury or entitled they may feel, ever behaving like this before.

Well don't leave it there , go on tell us how much you paid,

Well that will please the many on here who yearn for Thailand to become a clone of the miserable countries they originate from.

we generally don't run , anywhere, actually,

I have never been told that , have you? (being told that by others on here, doesn't count)

have you actually paid 100x the the Thai price of something ? go on tell us what it was

and chocolate men

Almost correct, as you clarified later it was a British guy in Dubai, but there was no THC involved, the vapes contained only CBD oil, which is not even psychoactive or intoxicating, It is actually even legal in the UK and is actually even available from supermarkets there. It was the equivalent of arresting him for contravening their liquor laws by selling alcohol free beer, the ultimate in "drugs are bad" idiocy. If I remember correctly he had his sentence reduced on appeal to around 10 years, hardly a consolation and totally ridiculous

According to "The Tiger" the parents of the teenage thugs have been fined just 10,000 baht each for their kids involvement in the murder of that woman a month or two ago, apparently the fine was halved for at least one of them because he accepted responsibility ! no mention of further punishments being handed down to the teenage (snip) So is that it then ? Shameful https://thethaiger.com/news/national/sa-kaeo-teen-murderers-parents-fined-for-deadly-deed

that is just the shape of his head surely

I bet his mum cut it for him

have people been sent to prison for wearing fake watches? first i have heard of it , But I cant say anybody wearing a real one impresses me at all to be honest

if you could not afford a real one at 50 you have failed I bought a fake rolex in the 70's using money I earned from delivering newspapers, it only cost £10.

and who needs a smart phone ? I have a normal nokia, tells the time just fine, and allows me to communicate with others too