Thai police are investigating the death of a US serviceman, who was found lifeless in a bathroom of the 31st Infantry Regiment of the Royal Guards barracks in Lop Buri this morning (Wednesday).

 

The American was a member of the US force participating in the Cobra Gold 2023 joint exercise, being held in Lop Buri Province.

 

The body has been sent to the Ananda Mahidol Hospital, where a doctor said that there was a wound to his head. Mueang district police said that they have reported the incident to the Immigration Bureau for further action.

 

Full Story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/us-serviceman-found-dead-in-a-thai-army-barracks-in-lop-buri-province/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2023-03-01

 

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May he RIP and hopefully it was just an accident.  One wonders where the rest of the service members from his unit were when he was found.  Looks like a military investigation will need to be conducted besides the RTP investigating the death.

Another death with a head injury query. Didn't the young Thai football lad from the cave saga have a head injury in the UK? Bathrooms rank up there with balconies as potentially the way to win Thai Cluedo. It was Mr. Mustard with the candelabra in the.........

Trolling post reported and removed.

 

My first thought was that som-tam did him in.

The first question which came to my mind was if he was spraying the water all over and the water shorted out the electric water heater. Autopsy will reveal if that happened. I think more plausible than the Major having a medical condition at first glance. As always we are just guessing.

25 minutes ago, wwest5829 said:

The first question which came to my mind was if he was spraying the water all over and the water shorted out the electric water heater. Autopsy will reveal if that happened. I think more plausible than the Major having a medical condition at first glance. As always we are just guessing.

You are just guessing.

Why do you care why he died?  

 

16 minutes ago, Freddy42OZ said:

You are just guessing.

Why do you care why he died?  

 

 I freely stated that, at this point, we are all just guessing. Why do I care? Interested in the world around me and that he was a American.

A post with unsubstantiated information has been removed.

 

A post in violation of fair use policy has been removed:

 

27. You will not post any copyrighted material except as fair use laws apply (as in the case of news articles). Only post a link, the headline and three sentences from the article. Content in the public domain is limited to the same restrictions.

Bathrooms can be quite dangerous and a slip and fall would become even more dangerous when a person's head hits the hard surfaces found in a bathroom which would explain the head wound.

As retired service members I am also interested when a brother falls.  I am confused why it would be forward to immigration.  Would this not be a military matter therefore under military police or are they that bad

Let us hope this was an accident. They do happen in bathrooms, with the highly slippery tile. 

Sorry for the soldier and his family.  I just had family visit and the first thing I told them upon entering my home is to be very careful with wet tile.  Slip and fall is easy to do.  One relative was 83 and has a hard time with her balance.  Non slip mats everywhere were the only thing I could think of and it worked.  Been in many hotels in the LOS and encountered wet bathroom tile that was just plain scary.  

17 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

May he RIP and hopefully it was just an accident.  One wonders where the rest of the service members from his unit were when he was found.  Looks like a military investigation will need to be conducted besides the RTP investigating the death.

Thai said ,referred to IMMIGRATION  FOR ""FURTHER ACTION"" 55

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

with the highly slippery tile. 

Thank you, my thought exactly, as I have experienced this in a hotel in Chiang Mai. Fortunately I am still around to tell the tale. The shower unit itself had "non slip" tiles laid, whereas outside in the room, there were those dangerous shiny floor tiles. With wet feet, I did a "Torvill & Dean" across the floor and fortunately was able to grab a table to break my fall!

4 hours ago, CM Dad said:

Bathrooms can be quite dangerous and a slip and fall would become even more dangerous when a person's head hits the hard surfaces found in a bathroom which would explain the head wound.

Wouldn't that depend on where on the head was the 'hit' and if he was found that side down or up? I mean being found face down and an injury to the back of the head could be fowl play.

6 hours ago, xeniv23 said:

Slip and fall is easy to do.  One relative was 83 and has a hard time with her balance.  Non slip mats everywhere were the only thing I could think of and it worked.  Been in many hotels in the LOS and encountered wet bathroom tile that was just plain scary.  

One would hope that this guy was a little younger than 83...

 

It's easy to pass it off as a simple accident, though much more fun to imagine maybe some foul play being afoot.

 

But no clues here.

7 hours ago, xeniv23 said:

Sorry for the soldier and his family.  I just had family visit and the first thing I told them upon entering my home is to be very careful with wet tile.  Slip and fall is easy to do.  One relative was 83 and has a hard time with her balance.  Non slip mats everywhere were the only thing I could think of and it worked.  Been in many hotels in the LOS and encountered wet bathroom tile that was just plain scary.  

I think the consensus is that the shiny tile looks a little like marble. And it is cheap to install, and easy to clean. So, it appears to be a false appearance of luxury, over safety. I dislike the shiny tile. It is beyond dangerous. 

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

It is beyond dangerous.

There is such a thing.?

9 hours ago, Mickmouse1 said:

Thai said ,referred to IMMIGRATION  FOR ""FURTHER ACTION"" 55

Maybe Imm. will try CPR?

As another poster mentioned; not sure why this is going to immigration. IMO, nothing to do with immigration. It's either an accident, or a criminal case which would involve RTP and the US military.

19 hours ago, xeniv23 said:

Sorry for the soldier and his family.  I just had family visit and the first thing I told them upon entering my home is to be very careful with wet tile.  Slip and fall is easy to do.  One relative was 83 and has a hard time with her balance.  Non slip mats everywhere were the only thing I could think of and it worked.  Been in many hotels in the LOS and encountered wet bathroom tile that was just plain scary.  

Amen. I've slipped on too many bathroom tiles here. We bought three high quality bathroom mats for each bathroom. They are now several years old and still doing well. Even tiles with a textured surface are dangerous.  

On 3/1/2023 at 7:23 PM, wwest5829 said:

The first question which came to my mind was if he was spraying the water all over and the water shorted out the electric water heater. Autopsy will reveal if that happened. I think more plausible than the Major having a medical condition at first glance. As always we are just guessing.

Where did you learn that it was a Major? I didn't see any mention of rank or branch of service. I'd have to go back and read the article to even be sure that they mentioned the victim's gender. 

Jumping may be one of the leading causes of death in Thailand and Russia but please let's not jump to conclusions.

44 minutes ago, Tengu said:

Where did you learn that it was a Major? I didn't see any mention of rank or branch of service. I'd have to go back and read the article to even be sure that they mentioned the victim's gender. 

Jumping may be one of the leading causes of death in Thailand and Russia but please let's not jump to conclusions.

It's all over the internet that he was a Major

 

https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/autopsy-conducted-on-us-soldier-found-dead-in-lopburi/

 

Maj. Andrew Cotter, an officer with an army artillery unit in Thailand for an annual joint military exercise, was found dead in a bathtub this week with a wound to his head at the 31st Infantry Regiment in Lopburi city.

 

https://komonews.com/news/local/joint-base-lewis-mcchord-solider-dies-during-assignment-in-thailand-cobra-gold-bangkok

 

 

Maj. Andrew Cotter had been participating in Cobra Gold, a training and coordination exercise with the United States and host Thailand joined by five major Asian allies, with additional participation by 23 other countries. More than 7,000 military personnel are taking part.

Cotter served as operations officer for the 17th Field Artillery Thunderbolt Brigade in the army's I Corps, said a statement issued from where the unit is normally stationed, Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State. It said he was found unresponsive in the central Thai city of Lopburi, one of the sites for the exercise, and confirmed dead on Tuesday.

 

Some off topic posts have been removed.

21 hours ago, IAMHERE said:

Wouldn't that depend on where on the head was the 'hit' and if he was found that side down or up? I mean being found face down and an injury to the back of the head could be fowl play.

So, you believe he may have been NOK'd out ?

On 3/1/2023 at 8:50 PM, rbkk said:

Another death with a head injury query. Didn't the young Thai football lad from the cave saga have a head injury in the UK? Bathrooms rank up there with balconies as potentially the way to win Thai Cluedo. It was Mr. Mustard with the candelabra in the.........

quit that weed, man or switch to Leo....

Inflammatory post removed

On 3/3/2023 at 1:40 PM, ThailandRyan said:

 

https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/autopsy-conducted-on-us-soldier-found-dead-in-lopburi/

 

From your linked source above:

 

"Police did not suspect foul play and speculate that Cotter fainted and hit his head."

 

While the above speculated scenario is certainly possible, that wouldn't be the first explanation I might consider given that the victim here was a relatively young and seemingly fit Army officer.

 

Plus as we all know, the RTP are very well known for their off-the-cuff and often factually unsupported explanations for things that later turn out to be totally wrong.

 

The above Coconuts report relies on a separate AP news report with the following detail, as related by a Thai police colonel:

 

"Police Col. Raksak Mekchinda, superintendent of the Lopburi police station, said Cotter’s body was discovered in a bathroom at around 2 a.m. Tuesday.

 

“He fainted in the bathroom, it was locked, his soldier friends were searching and couldn’t find him, so they kicked the door down and then found him,” he said. “He probably had a medical condition.”

 

https://apnews.com/article/us-army-cobra-gold-exercises-thailand-death-91b123b690fcf2ad04d8d1aa86ba032c

 

Hmmmm....

 

Maybe the veteran folks here among us can say better, but I would have thought that active duty U.S. army officers might not be sent abroad if they have some "medical condition" that might impair their ability to perform their duties.

 

On 3/1/2023 at 11:50 PM, rbkk said:

Another death with a head injury query. Didn't the young Thai football lad from the cave saga have a head injury in the UK? Bathrooms rank up there with balconies as potentially the way to win Thai Cluedo. It was Mr. Mustard with the candelabra in the.........

Where did you get that information from ?