Taxi driver

[edward]

This is in regards to the story of the taxi driver stabbing two foreigners....

I totally disagree with the taxi drivers reaction to the stabbing but sometimes we foreigners think that everything must go our way...vomitting in a cab and yet refusing to pay extra for the damage is indeed insulting to the cab and driver..

I guess they must have been drunk but they should think what would the outcome be if they were in their homeland...

RESPECT - all lecturers should be familliar with that.

[Bob Chittie]

I think they should have paid what the taxi drivr asked! Of course, don't know the details so its hard to have a real opinion here...

[Howard]

Well people do stupid things when they are drunk (assuming that was the case - after all if they were sober and had done as reported they would surely have had the decency to compensate the driver). And people do stupid things when they are angry...

[bkkgs]

i put myself thru university driving a taxi in a big city in the states. its not a fun job and having drunks puking in the back seat will tend to p*ss you off. and if these two guys (no one will ever know what really happened) threatened the driver when things started to heat up, then faced with two drunk farangs he felt threatened by, well, this is what happens. i have no sympathy for two drunken slobs who puke in cabs and then end up in trouble.

[wolf5370]

Mmmm, I wonder how one-sided the report is here. The guys are wrong for puking in the car etc - but it happens. I just wonder what the cabbie was ordering in recompense. Maybe the drunks argued in the face of a ridiculous charge - seems likely, drunks are easy target whatever the country (I know a 20 year old that puked in the back of a cab on new years eve in the UK - he was charged £250 in leu of the cabbie's lost earnings - I think they settled on £75 which was all he had plus his maximum ATM withdrawal).

Drunk farangs often seem threatening to other farangs - to a Thai used to Jai yen, who knows?

[wilson steer]

I read this story today in Bangkok Post. Let's face it we don't know the full story. If they were drunk and produced vomit in the cab, they are guilty of something, but the stabbing is wrong, sure it is. However it seem odd that they were both stabbed, and I reckon that they were in fact two drunks. Sad story, but I always am careful of taxi drivers and songthaew drivers, I had a nasty moment with one once. That's why it is always wise to carry a switchblade in Thailand, hopefully not to use but it can be life saving to threaten. Mikes Mall Pattaya has a nice line in switchblades on the third floor.

I might add, I do not under any circumstances condone their use in the L.O.S. !!!!!

[wolf5370]

Wilson, are you not fearful of escalation – I see your switch-blade and raise you my revolver?

Think I’d rather pay up, take a looksie at the cab number (card at from usually with someone else’s photo on it) and the car reg. The visit the Tourist police – they are always interested in easy nicks.

[Blackandwhite]

Good job done, I think the taxi driver should have done the pair of them properly.Good on him, the two little idiots involved are still alive and I bet they will not do it again. You know what they say '' They have been made an example of ''.

If you do the crime!!!!!!!

Expect to be hurt.

[george]

The taxi driver is now arrested for attempted murder.

Attempted murder count for driver

[andy50]

so simon, the next time  im in a cab ,after a few drinks, and i m accidentally sick ,i should expect the cabbie to stab me to death ???

[bkkdan]

I have all sympathy with the expats who where stabbed. I also received a rather nasty beating from two thai waiters who took exception to something someone said. Now some coments I have heard say they deserved it, what a crock of shit. No where, regardless of culture should someone in a service industry or any industry for that matter resort to insane violence. It smacks of the taxi driver being hoofed up on yaba to me and I hope he gets put in a cell with some fat bubba style katoey in Bang Kwang...let him try and get violent while he is bitting the pillow!

Dan

[bkkdan]

Good job done, I think the taxi driver should have done the pair of them properly.Good on him, the two little idiots involved are still alive and I bet they will not do it again. You know what they say '' They have been made an example of ''.

If you do the crime!!!!!!!

Expect to be hurt.

I also hope that at some stage you maybe hurt as you obviously have some kiund of twisted mentality or a god complex going on.

"I bet they wont do that again"

Oh dear you are really disturbed, you get life lessons from knife wealding lunatics often do you?

"You know what they say", "They have been made an example of".

What example has been set by this affair.

"If you do the crime"

Which crime in which land or culture apart from Saudi Arabia or a land with Sharia Law would you receive such punishment.

Dan ???

[pubboy]

I think we all must realise there are two sides to every story.

I have probably not had as much experience of Thai life as some of you, but have had some experiences with BKK taxi drivers. On my last trip in Feb, our taxi driver took us the wrong way to where we wanted to go. On realisation of this, he drove the car across 8 lanes and a central reservation nearly hitting six other cars. He apologised to my wife in thai, saying he didnt know the roads so well now, as he had just had his licence back after a 10 year absence for drug abuse.

On the other hand as a  pub manager in England, I have had many experiences with drunks, and have taken a few blows which I didnt deserve, and been theatened with various knives, baseball bats, even a sawn-off shotgun. There are many times when you feel that you wish you were carrying something as a deterrant to go into these situations. Experience and common sense tells you otherwise.

I feel sorry for the driver, but he has the law to turn to if problems like this arise. I do not feel sorry for these Farangs, yet the driver was in the wrong producing the knife.

[wilson steer]

I read in todays Bangkok Post that he (the taxi driver) has been arrested, no doubt he will get-off on some self-defence charge and the falangs will go home and it will all be forgotten.

If the falang loses his sight in one eye, he might get £50,000 off his insurance company, that's what an eye is worth on my British insurance policy.

Many Taxi drivers carry weapons for self defence against robbery. The situation in Thailand is overall pretty good, if you don't misbehave, and even the many falangs who do misbehave in cabs are rarely assaulted, more likely reported to the police and swiftly fined.

In Manila, problems with taxi drivers is far worse, with tourists regularly robbed by taxi drivers, particularly at night. If you ever go to the Philippines the number 1 danger is taxi drivers. Every day in the newspaper there are reported cases, far worse than this one!

[Bukseeda]

Some of you on here are completely mad.   Stabbing people with knives is not the way to deal with anyone whether they're in the wrong or not.  The driver himself said he acted in self-defense when he was pushed in the chest.   Jesus, if I'd stabbed someone every time i've been pushed in the chest i'd have been in jail long ago.  Sure, vomiting in a taxi pisses people off but it hardly justifies a knife in the face.

[sevinnow]

Picture the scene:  Put before a Jury on this case.

Two farangs drunk (ok guilty without charge there) get in a cab late at night and show insultive behaivior to a Thai cab driver, yes feet on his seat is insultive in Thailand.

Later in the journey one throws up in his "means of earning a living" anyone out there with very young kids knows how long it takes to rid the stench of vomit in a car!

A request for compensation is ridiculed by the farangs and they had insult to injury by banging on his cab (more damage he thinks) as he intends to drive away and leave the confrontation.

By now he is angry and gets out with a knife with defence in mind as these 2 farangs drunk and much bigger than him to see what further damage they have caused, one pushes him in the chest, and from my fighting days that was a means to get the first blow in!

His mood,anger and facing yet another threat (getting his head bashed in) stab's one and then when the other comes to his aid stab's him too.

As always Cab drivers do not have insurance or even drivers licences in Bangkok so he flee's the scene as 90% do after an incident.

That is the evidence put towards a jury.

My opion of the outcome of the verdict will be self-defence.

Still sat on the fence on this one

Regards

Sev

[bon1]

i have to think that stabbing the guys for being drunk and puking is a little bit harsh, but who knows what really happened. i've been in many taxis with western friends visiting asia, and a some of them were not exacly well behaved.. as far as the general taxi situation in bkk is concerned, i think it's quite good IF you know the town, and can tell the guy how to get there. navigation seems to be a problem... i live in central bkk and it always baffles me that i, farang, have to tell a bkk cabbie the way to well known places. also funny to hear them complaining about the "rot tid" all the time, like it's un-expected... anyway, at least in bkk you can always find a taxi, 24hrs, and also feel safe. most of them will even use the meter! can't say that about some of the other contries in SEA... :cool:

[wolf5370]

The farangs deny puking in the cab. They admit to putting their feet on the seats and rearranging the front seat - both due to the cramped conditions in the Cab - they say.

As far as I am aware it is illegal to carry a weapon in Thailand unless you are police or millitary - with few exceptions. Therefore, even used in self defence, it is an illegal act. It is quite possible the courts will make an example of the taxi driver - crack down on illegal weapons, tourist attacks, general image etc.

[wilson steer]

I reckon the taxi driver will get off. About a month ago some loony Hong Kong girl accused a taxi driver of robbery, bribery, rape and sodomy.

It turned out she made it all up!

[Dexlowe]

As Wolf says, the 2 farangs vehemently deny puking in the cab. But they don't say what they did that might have contributed to this incident. They were both pretty young (under 30). Possibly full of oats after a night out on the town -- who knows? Possibly completely unaware of local sensibilities (if so, they're too stupid to be lecturers). The taxi driver possibly could have been on "speed" (it's still pretty prevalent in Bangkok, despite the police crackdown and the murders of a couple of thousand so-called dealers). He could possibly have had a particularly hard day (and who'd want to be a taxi driver in Bangkok?). He possibly could have misread a situation. As could the so-called "lecturers". Either way, it's hard to pass judgement without being there and knowing the full facts. The two "lecturers" might have been innocent as they claim, or they might have developed a situation which offended the taxi driver -- I think they should come clean on this. But the bottom line is that the taxi driver allegedly pulled a knife and caused serious injury (let the court decide on that). That's inexcusable, if indeed that is what happened (again, the court . . .). Many moral judgements can be made from this incident -- for both Thai and farang -- about standards of behaviour. We should think about it carefully.

Dex.

[marks]

We left a pub on Sutthisan Road about 1:45 A green and yellow cab picked us up. It was a Nissan Envy, a compact wagon. I couldn’t fit my legs behind the driver’s seat as I am very tall (195 cm.) so I swung them across the back seat.

We arrived at our aparment at about 2:00. There was 57 baht on the meter, we gave the driver 60. I got out of the cab, as did Sean and the driver. Sean said that I shouldn’t have put my feet on the back seat. By the time he said that I had already walked across to the lift and pushed the button.

I turned around to face the driver confronting me, armed with a screwdriver. Not liking the look of this one little bit, i pushed him back, towards the cab. The driver’s side door of the cab was open. I remember Sean saying “Pi si!” and motiong him to get in.

But he didn’t get in. He got the knife from the side panel of the door and came back. It was big, about 40 cm., and heavy.

He whacked me first and I fell into the lift, which had come down by then. Then he walked past Sean and struck him across the face.

At the time of the assault Sean presented absolutely no threat to him. Further, Sean had done nothing to insult or provoke him in any way.

    It was all over in less than 20 seconds. The security guard didn’t even have time to get up, and his desk is directly in front of the lift. The guard’s name is Khun Teerayut Yotsamut.  He has given me permission to use his name, and he denies talking to any reporters. Since Sean and I have never given an interview, where did they get the story? From the man who has already confessed to attempted murder, of course.

All of the evidence necessary to substantiate our version of events, including the driver’s confession and Khun Yotsamut’s testimony, is available at the Sutthisan police station.

If any of you know any lawyers, we would like to speak with one.

Don’t think it can’t happen to you. Please be careful.

Mark Shargool

[cfhebertjr]

Apparently no one can seem to get the story straight. Did they puke or was it dirty shoes? Although the driver may have been justified in his anger was he justified in his violent assault? Not one of us were there. How can anyone, not there, judge the situation.

Is this all there is to talk about? Sounds like a bunch of kids voicing there ignorant opinions. Ignorance means not knowing. It is not an insult.

Bukseeda and pubboy seem to have the only rational thoughts on this thread. Move on.

[Dickie]

<font color='#000000'>Good job done, I think the taxi driver should have done the pair of them properly.Good on him, the two little idiots involved are still alive and I bet they will not do it again. You know what they say '' They have been made an example of ''.

If you do the crime!!!!!!!

Expect to be hurt.</font>

<font color='#000000'>I also hope that at some stage you maybe hurt as you obviously have some kiund of twisted mentality or a god complex going on.

"I bet they wont do that again"

Oh dear you are really disturbed, you get life lessons from knife wealding lunatics often do you?

"You know what they say", "They have been made an example of".

What example has been set by this affair.

"If you do the crime"

Which crime in which land or culture apart from Saudi Arabia or a land with Sharia Law would you receive such punishment.

Dan ???</font>

looks like the system message filter missed that little trick, or was my view the only one which was buggered?

[monkeygirl]

<font color='#32CD32'>Good job done, I think the taxi driver should have done the pair of them properly.Good on him, the two little idiots involved are still alive and I bet they will not do it again. You know what they say '' They have been made an example of ''.

If you do the crime!!!!!!!

Expect to be hurt.</font>

okay stabbing is maybe a bit harsh, but if they were dumb enough not to pay up, they deserved something. too many foreigners act like idiots when they come here. i ran into a group of young farang men ranting and raving in a bkk hotel about how the hotel sucked and everyone was out to get them and the police were coming and we should leave the hotel because they hate farang. meanwhile the staff was as calm as if nothing happened. they were all waiting for the police to arrive and talk to the boys and the taxi driver that brought them there the night before. the bellhop quietly mentioned to me in thai that the boys were all drunk and rowdy and thought they paid the taxi driver when they did not, so the hotel called the police. now guess who i believe? stupid little punters.

[chuchok]

If you read the orig post from one of the the gentlemen that were attacked ,you will find that they did pay the bill...why do so many people jump to conclusions? The reason that they were attached was because he ,as a tall gentleman put his feet on the seat.There was also an impartial witness to the crime, which is probably why the taxi driver got put away.

I little part of me would love to see the posters who are so quick to criticize ,in a similar situation through no fault of there own....You reaction then would be priceless.

[plachon]

Apparently no one can seem to get the story straight. Did they puke or was it dirty shoes? Although the driver may have been justified in his anger was he justified in his violent assault? Not one of us were there. How can anyone, not there, judge the situation.

Is this all there is to talk about? Sounds like a bunch of kids voicing there ignorant opinions. Ignorance means not knowing. It is not an insult.

Bukseeda and pubboy seem to have the only rational thoughts on this thread. Move on.

Like most others, no-one on this thread has bothered to do their research and some like wilson steer seem to have no memory, but a fertile imagination. This incident only occurred just over a year ago and was extensively debated and like on this thread, speculated on ad nauseum. If you go to the News Clippings section, you can find some links to the original post, replicated above by Mark Shargool, one of the two injured party. But you probably won't, prefering to be "Man in the Pub", especially individuals who haven't got the guile even to look at the post above their own before spouting off.

Maybe I can repeat a few salient facts for those who prefer not to do a bit of research:

1. Nobody vomited in the cab, that was made up by the cab driver to try and lessen his crime. Police report verifies this.

2. The pair had been drinking, they were NOT drunk.

3. The fare was 57 baht, the driver was given 60 baht.

4. There was some light soiling on the back seat, caused by Mark's shoes as a result of the front seat being so far back not allowing, but nothing drastic

5. The "pushing in the chest" was done in self defence against the taxi driver coming at Mark aggressively with a screwdriver.

6. The second injured person who had nothing to do with the "incident" which set off the taxi driver, lost an eye from the attack and has not received a baht in compensation, nor was he insured to the best of my knowledge.

These are just a few things that are relevant and should be considered in the light of the previous postings. How do I know this beyond the accuracies, half-facts and distortions which have been reported elsewhere? Well, I personally know Mark and can vouch for his integrity and straightforward manner in reporting the incident without embellishment. Luckily, the court came to the only sensible verdict there was and convicted the driver to 10 years behind bars for attempted murder.

[chuchok]

plachon,

great reply to those who spout off with no idea of the facts.

[Ajarn]

Of course the driver was at fault, and nothing short of the passenger assaulting the driver should be grounds for violence in return- and then only of similar force,i.e., a push does not justify use of a weapon in return...

I was a cab driver (nighttime) in San Francisco for a couple of years, and I can sure understand the pressures and dangers of the profession. Possibly, these farangs were simply the straw that broke the camel's back, but still....

When I first started driving at night, I bought a 25 caliber pistol as protection while driving. But, after a few close calls of almost pulling my gun, I decided to get rid of it because I was seemingly likely to use it in a situation where my life wasn't really in danger, but the passenger still had really pissed me off.... Even if I had been robbed (which I never was), I could still likely only pull my gun after the fact, and if I'd shot someone like that, it would be my ass in jail...

Anyway, bummer about the 2 farangs, and cheers that at least some justice was able to occur in a Thai court- though, from plachon's posting, we can see that there are still victims who haven't received their justice. I hope they apply for the funds set aside in the government's Victim's Fund.

As a side note, when I moved here, I turned my gun over to my local PD for disposal (I didn't want to give to someone)...This was many years ago.

About 2 years ago, I was forwarded a letter from the Portland, Oregon Police Dept., asking me to call me about a gun registered to me...I called the cop, and he told me they had found my gun in the possesion of a wanted criminal they had recently caught. I explained the history, and the cop said he would follow up with the PD where I given my gun. I checked back a few days later and the cop told me that the PD had auctioned off my gun to the highest bidder. The cop was as disgusted as I was to learn that the police were responsible for (another) criminal getting a gun- and still registered to me 20 years later!