Tombstone For Wolfgang Ley

[jackcorbett]

Several days ago I discovered a short article in Pattaya Mail about Wolfgang Ley, a German tourist being run down in the middle of Naklua Road by a pickup truck. Ley was killed and the driver of an Izuzu pickup sped out of the Naklua area. Wolfgang's body was discovered in front of Soi 18/1 according to the Pattaya Mail. The shoe in the picture is just a few feet from Soi 18/1.

So what is the significance of this shoe? A few months ago a friend of mine and I rode a motorbike just past Soi 18/1 where we saw a man lying in the middle of Naklua Road, the apparent victim of a hit and run. So the next morning I drove to the Taverne, a German restaurant I often ate at and ordered breakfast there. I knew the accident had occurred very close to the Taverne and thought I could get some information there about what had happened. Straight off I noticed the shoe on the sidewalk smack right in front of the restaurant. I asked the Thai woman in charge if she knew anything about a man getting run down by a car or motorbike. She said she hadn't heard a thing, then she made a phone call or two. She then told me she had just been informed that the victim had been a bar owner who had been crossing Naklua Road. He had been struck by a hit and run motorbike driver. However, the police found the motorbike driver later on. The victim was hospitalized with I recall a broken leg.

But the image of that shoe kept haunting me. So I went back to my condo to get a camera, went back to Naklua Road near Taverne Restaurant and that's how I got this picture. I think what had happened is the victim was knocked out of his sandals by the motorbike and no one had bothered to recover the sandal for him. For me that sandal symbolized the utter lack of respect here for pedestrians and a memorial in advance for all those who will die or be injured because this lack of respect is tolerated by the authorities. In the U.S. if a motorist endangers a pedestrian he is hung out to dry. The eyewitness account published in the Pattaya Mail has Wolfgang Levy getting off a baht taxi in a drunken state and managing to get halfway across Naklua Road on his way to the beer bar on the opposite side. That places him very close to the Taverne Restaurant where I snapped the picture of the shoe. The huge irony of it all simply boggles my mind.

Edited December 31, 2009 by jackcorbett

[Rimmer]

This has already been covered and discussed at:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/German-Touri...ri-t323938.html

I don't believe we want to re open this tragic event.