American tourist attacked by armed gang after stopping robbery on Koh Phi Phi 

 

 

An American man has described how he was injured after being attacked by a gang of men on the island of Koh Phi Phi.

 

Stephen Trimble revealed how he was walking along the beach when he spotted who describes as a “local” stealing the belongings of a girl who had gone swimming.

 

When Mr Trimble yelled at the man to stop, he left the girl’s bag and ran away, only to return moments later with 3 other men, who were armed with sticks, pieces of wood and a kayak paddle.

 

Mr Trimble said the men began to attack him, leaving him with injuries to his head, knee and back.

 

He said he reported the incident to the police, who Mr Trimble described as being “super helpful”.

 

Mr Trimble, who is a freelance photographer, posted about the incident on his Instagram profile, which has almost 40,000 followers.

 

 

“Story Time: a few nights ago on the beach in Phi Phi I stopped a local from stealing some girls purse on the beach. Things quickly went downhill from there! The girl was in the water and left her things on the sand. A perfect payday for a piece of shit low life thief preying on a tourist,” the post read.

 

“I see the Thai local approach her belongings and pick up her purse, he rapidly walked into the shadows and began digging through her things. When I yell at him to stop and tell him that is not his bag, he throws it in the bushes and walks away,” he added.

 

“2 minutes later he returns with 3 friends all armed with large sticks, a 2x1 piece of wood, and a kayak paddle. They came straight towards me and without hesitation began swinging on me. After about 15 strikes they take off down a dark alley at the at end of the beach.

At this point I’m bleeding heavily from my head, arms, and leg. I walk towards the nearest beach hostel to get some help, and come across a police on his moped. I explain to him what happened and he tells me to come to the station the next day at 10am to tell the police and they will look for the ones who attacked me. SUPER helpful”.

 

“Anyways I got a few stitches in my head and a few more in my leg, also partially tore a ligament in my knee, and as you can see my back is a bit bruised and cut up. But I’m still alive and kicking! A few days of rest and I’ll keep on keeping on!”

 

Mr Trimble warned other tourists about the risks of leaving belongings on a beach unattended. He also warned others to be careful at night, especially in tourists areas.

 

Kapook reported that the gang of men who attacked Mr Trimble were still at large.

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-03-13

+ a good hearted taxi driver returns loads of money.

23 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

I explain to him what happened and he tells me to come to the station the next day at 10am to tell the police and they will look for the ones who attacked me. SUPER helpful”.

21 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

“Anyways I got a few stitches in my head and a few more in my leg, also partially tore a ligament in my knee, and as you can see my back is a bit bruised and cut up. But I’m still alive and kicking! A few days of rest and I’ll keep on keeping on!”

oh boy! and I called the police corrupt in my Instagram post and I am still in Thailand! 

Welcome to Phi Phi. That's what often happens when one confronts a Thai, he goes to get his friends to help. Our American is lucky to be alive. If they do anything at all, Thai Police will finger some Burmese for the job.

 

Imagine what would happen if some Farangs beat the crap out of a Thai..... Ah that's different isn't it.

Typical american, getting involved to save someone or something. Kudos dude.

I wonder if the super helpful policeman has caught the culprits yet?

 

Maybe the American is super naive?

Never, never, never take the role of ‘Good Samaritan’ in Thailand.  This is the place where the old saw about no good deed going unpunished originated.

More importantly, does he have a work permit to freelance in Thailand? Big Joke will be all over this.

This surely is laughable Super helpful police????

This must be the first time ever here.

10 hours ago, SammyT said:

Cue three Burmese scapegoats labourers getting paraded in front of the media tomorrow as the alleged perpetrators...

Que BJ saying he will be checking if TM28/30 for the tourist has been filed and if not the tourist will be deported.

10 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

10 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

the gang of men who attacked Mr Trimble were still at large.

I thought the BIB just sat and waited until the gang, overcome  by guilt, come to the police station and confess.

 

 

another one in the land of smiles. another reason to avoid thailand.

5 hours ago, nodomino said:

Never, never, never take the role of ‘Good Samaritan’ in Thailand.  This is the place where the old saw about no good deed going unpunished originated.

Top man, good on him for trying. Yes he did not read that warning in Lonely Planet about not getting involved, but if everyone just ran away the situation would get worse. You have to push back against the thugs.
Now that this has got international exposure BIB will hopefully go into hyper drive. Let's hope that the perpetrators are known low life scum bags who they will make examples of. If they are relations to anyone else then Myanmar should evacuate all citizens immediately.

The locals exactly know who did that..

This is wrong on every level, posting it here on TV will not get the word out. Stephen, you seem like an articulate man, perhaps sending a copy of your report to USA and EU newspapers, may get better results.

 

Your case  Stephen is minor compared with this case

 

The kayak paddle could be a good indicator on where the culprits came from.

If the police were interested in  looking.

30 years ago I would have travelled alone and left my backpack on a beach while swimming, but these days anywhere in the world I would want to be with a friend of travel mate before leaving items unattended . 

 

Good for the guy to stand up to the thieves, might have been less painful if he had just walked up and said it was his wife's purse and retrieved it and said thank you?  Dont know

4 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

The kayak paddle could be a good indicator on where the culprits came from.

If the police were interested in  looking.

Got it !!!!!!

They are Eskimo's on a back packing hunt........

1 minute ago, AhFarangJa said:

Got it !!!!!!

They are Eskimo's on a back packing hunt........

Yes, because Eskimos are the only people to come to mind when a kayak is mentioned!

Why didn't he take out his phone or camera and make a vid of the thief..he could of shown that to the local police and they would track down the bad guy right away.....ya think?

Police were too busy to respond because they were hunting down foreigners who hadn't updated their TM30! ???? 

8 minutes ago, JohnOFphon said:

Why didn't he take out his phone or camera and make a vid of the thief..he could of shown that to the local police and they would track down the bad guy right away.....ya think?

Could of had his phone stolen and been left for dead more likely...

He's not a Chinese tourist,so nothing will be done by the Police.

regards Worgeordie

He is seriously lucky he is alive.

 

Gee, I hope this doesn't damage Thailand’s image.  Perhaps we can file that behind, "quality tourist urinates on vehicles, starts fight"      

 

 

One thing is for sure. The police will do absolutely nothing as there is no money in it for them!!!

11 hours ago, johng said:

+ a good hearted taxi driver returns loads of money.

There's always one to offer up excuses isn't there! Take off those rosie specs, this story is not about a kind taxi driver, which had lots of likes and praise for some Thais. These Thai scum rightly deserve criticism.

10 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

Typical american, getting involved to save someone or something. Kudos dude.

Yes, kudos to the guy. Although I'm only a mere Brit, I'd like to think that I would have done the same myself.

 

Quote from a Brit:

 

 

                                                    

 

 

the fact that he has 40,000 instagram followers might actually prompt the cops to do something.     and 3 burmese won't count, as he can identify the real attackers.  

I am skeptical the incident took place... doesn't pass the sniff test. Injuries real, perhaps a bike crash. Was he being sarcastic regarding "super helpful" policeman? Dude would be covered in blood, assume some emotional state & cop says "drop by tomorrow"? What about the swimming girl? No further mention of her...

I'm American, and we do have our share of odd balls, but the tone of the story & ending seems like just another tall tale from Thailand to wow his readers.

Maybe later I'll meet up with all the special forces retirees that seem to populate Pattaya and get their opinions