Bangkok: "Shell shocked" US marine sparks bomb alert in front of US Embassy

[webfact]

Westerner sparks bomb scare at US embassy

By The Nation

 

 

Lumpini Police Station was notified on Tuesday (April 21) that a suspicious western man had placed an unidentified box in front of the US embassy on Witthayu Road in Bangkok.

 

A bomb disposal team was sent to the scene but on opening the box, they found only a muay Thai doll, clothes and papers. Other items including A3 batteries and a bottle were also found nearby.

 

 

The man was arrested and taken to be interrogated at the station. The police learned that he is an American, 35, who has a visa and ID showing that he works as a teacher in Chonburi province.

 

 

They also found several medicines in the bag, but the man did not reveal what they were for. He was sent to Somdet Chaopraya Institute of Psychiatry to have his mental condition checked.

 

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30386472?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=internal_referral

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-04-21

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[ThailandRyan]

9 minutes ago, samran said:

Question - do vets get good health care coverage for things like mental health services?

Samran, they do not.  If they have been in service during special operations and then some they might be able to get assistance.  However, if you were involved in an off the books action and suffered, they will deny it ever occurred because there is no documentation of such activity.  I was lucky that when I discharged I went into a field where my medical covered pre-existing conditions and have been able to fly above the issues I had.  If he as the article states was an English teacher, then maybe because of COVID he lost his job as schools have closed, and with such the income to obtain the medications he took to survive in normal everyday life.  He may have been where he was because he knew that he would be treated right and get the help he needed....I hope he is able to get back onto the right side of the line that we end up crossing when we are not able to think clearly.

Edited April 21, 2020 by ThailandRyan

[Aspaltso]

IMO the U.S Military ought to be doing more to help this man. Instead it seems to me he's been left to fend for himself after being physically, and mentally disabled by a conflict that the U.S government put his through. Tragic really.

[dubai thai farang]

1 hour ago, 2 is 1 said:

I respectll all veteran dosen't matter what coundry they are. They have give much to they coundry. Many have give all!

????

agreed, no matter the uniform they've all put themselves on the line for their country whichever it maybe. some paying the ultimate price. Others

 should be looked after. 

[sambum]

2 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

So, a foreigner doing nothing wrong is stopped, cuffed, searched and this makes into the news.

Suspicious behaviour/circumstances/location. I am sure if the same thing happened at the Gates of Buckingham Palace, or the Houses of Parliament (or the White House) the reaction of security forces would be the same

[dubai thai farang]

The police have acted after seeing someone with a suspicious package, nicked them, checked it out, now I hope they will help him find some help. Thats the correct way anyway in my eyes.

 

[SupermarineS6B]

3 hours ago, mickymouse1 said:

Strangely enough ,many American ex Iraqi army guys (illegally migrated)* to Thailand thinking they can do what they like as all suffer from the same symptoms. 

 

* border/Visa run every 90 days...555

And why not ? thousands of people lived on back to back visas for years before the present bunch grabbed power....... It worked, and it made money....... Good luck to the bloke, probably deserves a break.... 

[drbeach]

2 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

So, a foreigner doing nothing wrong is stopped, cuffed, searched and this makes into the news.

It happened in front of the US embassy. Thai security guards bark at Thais taking pictures from the nearby footbridge, that's how paranoid they are. They can't stop people taking pictures from inside passing cars though...

[zippysteve]

I’m still trying to figure out what he actually did. The article just says he was acting suspiciously and that he had a box and that EOD came out and found no explosives. So what did he do? Did he actually make a verbal threat or something? I just don’t understand because normally they don’t call EOD just because a person is acting suspiciously. Surely there must’ve been some sort of confrontation with security or something is this the only details they have on the story? That’s a weird one I’m guessing maybe they just don’t know exactly what happened yet. Looks like it just happened earlier today. Maybe he was just looking for a free ride home I’m guessing because the article did say he was here to teach English and he probably ended up in a bind like what happens to a lot of people who come here for the same reason. He was probably here before with the Marines and wanted to come back.
 

It’s just odd because it doesn’t say anything about how he caused the bomb scare just acting suspiciously. 

[zippysteve]

6 minutes ago, drbeach said:

It happened in front of the US embassy. Thai security guards bark at Thais taking pictures from the nearby footbridge, that's how paranoid they are. They can't stop people taking pictures from inside passing cars though...

Good! Then the Thai Security guards are doing their jobs then! It’s a US government embassy it has to be that way. 

[thesetat2013]

2 hours ago, MasterBaker said:

Mental patient teaching English in Thailand.... How typical

Status quo

[zippysteve]

40 minutes ago, webfact said:

Westerner sparks bomb scare at US embassy

By The Nation

 

 

Lumpini Police Station was notified on Tuesday (April 21) that a suspicious western man had placed an unidentified box in front of the US embassy on Witthayu Road in Bangkok.

 

A bomb disposal team was sent to the scene but on opening the box, they found only a muay Thai doll, clothes and papers. Other items including A3 batteries and a bottle were also found nearby.

 

 

The man was arrested and taken to be interrogated at the station. The police learned that he is an American, 35, who has a visa and ID showing that he works as a teacher in Chonburi province.

 

 

They also found several medicines in the bag, but the man did not reveal what they were for. He was sent to Somdet Chaopraya Institute of Psychiatry to have his mental condition checked.

 

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30386472?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=internal_referral

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-04-21

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Ok here is a little more information but still doesn’t say how it started. It looks like he might have rigged the box to look like a bomb. But it doesn’t say anything about what he actually did to cause it to happen. 

Edited April 21, 2020 by zippysteve

[RJRS1301]

3 hours ago, mauGR1 said:

Uhm, his future career seems to be compromised, hope he can find another job at home.

POTUS will need another advisor shortly in some discipline

[Nanaplaza666]

Respect to all and everyone who served, that aside i think it's terrible he isn't helped at home being on a lot of medicine and i think having PTSD he should have been helped in his homecountry . Now my other point , how the .... could he have ever gotten a job teaching children in a condition like this being on meds and likely to explode at any moment maybe doing something crazy and stupid . Good backgroundcheck by the school where he teaches ????

[johnnysunshine]

He is a brother on our Planet Earth and we really don't know the specifics of the rest unless some of you witnessed your self.   I am more concerned about all of the drugs he's taking and, the specific names and quantities would reveal more.   Send him light and. imagine his best outcome!

[darrendsd]

3 hours ago, mickymouse1 said:

Strangely enough ,many American ex Iraqi army guys (illegally migrated)* to Thailand thinking they can do what they like as all suffer from the same symptoms. 

 

* border/Visa run every 90 days...555

If they do a border run they are not illegal are they

[Salty Dog]

2 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

He is not a marine but a veteran. 

 

The Thai authorities should not be the only person assisting this guy.  The Military staff at the embassy should also be doing something for him.

 

 

Once a Marine, always a Marine. I know the Local VFW post, in conjunction with JUSMAG Thai /U.S. Embassy are working with this issue but as to what extent I'm not sure.

 

2 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

Why didn't one of the marines or members of the embassy not come out and deal with him.  Also why are we saying a Marine was arrested.  He is not a marine but a veteran. 

 

The Thai authorities should not be the only person assisting this guy.  The Military staff at the embassy should also be doing something for him.

 

 

 

[marquis22]

3 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

So, a foreigner doing nothing wrong is stopped, cuffed, searched and this makes into the news.

Mass killers and suicide bombers do nothing wrong either until they start their rampage.

[ThailandRyan]

6 minutes ago, marquis22 said:

Mass killers and suicide bombers do nothing wrong either until they start their rampage.

Wow, you really are a peach.  What an inference you made of this veteran of the U.S. Marines.  How can you draw a straight line from this incident to what you describe, and where do you get off implying that he is as you describe.  Talk about from one end of the spectrum to the other.  

[khunbillmex]

2 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

He is not a marine but a veteran. 

"Once a Marine, Always a Marine"

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, petermik said:

So show a little compassion then..........here,s hoping the guy can get the help he needs

He needs help yes, but not in the teaching profession.

[Moonlover]

2 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

Why didn't one of the marines or members of the embassy not come out and deal with him.  Also why are we saying a Marine was arrested.  He is not a marine but a veteran. 

 

The Thai authorities should not be the only person assisting this guy.  The Military staff at the embassy should also be doing something for him.

 

 

The marines assigned to guard the US embassy, (if there are any) have no jurisdiction outside the embassy walls. And as Lucas was deemed to be acting suspiciously at the time, you can't really expect one of the embassy staff to just 'pop out and have a chat with him', can you.

 

Like many others here, I've done my time in the forces, so I empathize with this guy's situation. I hope he is treated kindly and that his embassy do see to it that he gets the proper treatment.

 

Like our US cousins, far too many British veterans have suffered badly because that totally unjustified war

[zippysteve]

He’s just trying to hitch a free ride home. 

[timendres]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

Excuse me....what and where do you get this insane idea from, that military veterans illegally migrated to Thailand.  Are you wearing a tinfoil hat or something.  PTSD sufferers, such as myself, and many others never asked for what we have, nor did we expect to be in some places we were sent.  I will never understand that by giving our all, our mental suffering would not be treated when the time came, as the military fails to treat us for PTSD and to do so you have to meet certain standards and have been in certain places.  There are also many homeless Veterans, and many of them have mental illness, and are where they are because they can not function in a normal society.  Can you say that you have seen blown up bodies, have you ever been shot, and how many people have you had to render inoperable status too.  Until you can put yourself in the shoes of someone that has been there and done that, you are the last person who needs to judge someone.  If you have been a part to all of what I have described, then god forbid whatever mental disorder you have that would make you speak ill of someone else who has been through the same thing.  However, there is no way you could have, because whether or not we have been in the same places we all have respect for our brothers and sisters who served.....Have a good day 

I have real respect for those who served. And if I could wish any of them one reward for their service, it would be a quiet life in Thailand with a beautiful, loving Thai girl.

[JUAinBKK]

4 hours ago, mickymouse1 said:

Strangely enough ,many American ex Iraqi army guys (illegally migrated)* to Thailand thinking they can do what they like as all suffer from the same symptoms. 

 

* border/Visa run every 90 days...555

That was the most moronic statement ever made on this site.  

[JUAinBKK]

3 minutes ago, timendres said:

I have real respect for those who served. And if I could wish any of them one reward for their service, it would be a quiet life in Thailand with a beautiful, loving Thai girl.

Thank you, and it is people like you who make our service worth the sacrifice.  Again, thank you my friend, and yes, I have been rewarded as you wish.

[AussieinThaiJim]

Let’s hope he gets the help he needs!

why does such drivel get airtime at all?

[JUAinBKK]

26 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

He needs help yes, but not in the teaching profession.

Good to hear that you know him so well.  Please compare and contrast the good and the bad that he provides here in Thailand.  Happy to hear he was such a good teacher.

[ChaiyaTH]

22 minutes ago, zippysteve said:

He’s just trying to hitch a free ride home. 

Not at all, his friends and family tried to get him home since ages. He is entirely insane if checking his Facebook.

Edited April 21, 2020 by ChaiyaTH
some forgot

[ChaiyaTH]

Find it interesting, came across quite a few insane ex marines from the USA in Thailand since I lived here and all of them seem to have this crazy thing with weird numbers and patterns. Would almost start to think it is not just by chance. As I do not see that same behaviour with insane veterans from other countries hehe.