Does Anyone Know......

[wana]

Balloons here are normally filled with HYDROGEN, a real explosive gas if someone happened to light a lighter and pop one.

Good on the guard.

Mac

Fine, how about we beat you with a baton for doing something you are unaware is wrong.

he probably got multiple verbal warning and choose to ignore it

any time security has had to ask me something like please dont drink beer in the park ,or you cant smoke here ,or theres no pictures allowed in this area ,or you cant park your bike here ,i have said sorry ,i didnt know and stopped whatever i was doing for them .......

LONG before they had to take out their batons and beat me around the place with them

a security guard doesnt make the rules ,thats well above his pay grade ,but he gets hell if his bosses find out he cant stop a farang from taking ballons on a train

[KeyserSoze01]

Balloons here are normally filled with HYDROGEN, a real explosive gas if someone happened to light a lighter and pop one.

Good on the guard.

Mac

Fine, how about we beat you with a baton for doing something you are unaware is wrong.

he probably got multiple verbal warning and choose to ignore it

any time security has had to ask me something like please dont drink beer in the park ,or you cant smoke here ,or theres no pictures allowed in this area ,or you cant park your bike here ,i have said sorry ,i didnt know and stopped whatever i was doing for them .......

LONG before they had to take out their batons and beat me around the place with them

a security guard doesnt make the rules ,thats well above his pay grade ,but he gets hell if his bosses find out he cant stop a farang from taking ballons on a train

The article stated that the foreigner had already carried the balloons on the train on the way to the celebration. This incident happened on their return journey. With inconsistent enforcement of the "laws", this sort of thing goes pear shaped. The gaurd was way out of line for beating a man with a baton in front of his family, especially his daughter, for attempting to carry balloons onto the train.

[nocturn]

there were a few instances some years back where hydrogen was used in balloons causing injury, though i suspect this story has become something of an urban myth.

You mean the Hindenburg ?

no i mean hydrogen being in use to fill rubber balloons in current day thailand

[submaniac]

I saw the video on Drummond's site. I guess he only has the video beginning after the person was hit. It's a pity as I we can't see what happened to lead up to the strikes, only after he was struck and going through the turnstyles. If the Falang acted the same way he did on the video (pushing through the security guards) then he might have deserved it. Without seeing the events that led up to this then I think there is insufficient evidence to come to any conclusion. I do feel bad for the little girl who was in the middle of all of this.

[theblether]

they were not trying to avoid baloons popping dangerous gas since the guard made them explose anyways.

Just a 5'1 85pound midget trying to show whos boss and a fat old bald man getting his ass handed by a 6000 per month guy that was hired to sit down with 0 authority..

quite sad on both sides. But expected from the racist thai who's probably just learned his gf he pickups at 3am @ nana or 6am @ spicey just hit her 5 000th customer this year

I think if the guy set about you with a truncheon there would be a round of applause...........

What a disgusting post.

[submaniac]

I would also add one more point, the batons/nightsticks/truncheons are to be used strictly for body blows. In the United States if a police officer used a baton to the head that would be considered the use of deadly force, and the justification for using a baton to the head would be the same justification needed for the use of a firearm.

[Beetlejuice]

they were not trying to avoid baloons popping dangerous gas since the guard made them explose anyways.

Just a 5'1 85pound midget trying to show whos boss and a fat old bald man getting his ass handed by a 6000 per month guy that was hired to sit down with 0 authority..

quite sad on both sides. But expected from the racist thai who's probably just learned his gf he pickups at 3am @ nana or 6am @ spicey just hit her 5 000th customer this year

I think if the guy set about you with a truncheon there would be a round of applause...........

What a disgusting post.

so you felt you were well represented in my post? Only reason to get angry. This is the reality of thailand where expats are nowadays.

No it isn’t.

Ex-pats and Western tourist must realise that they cannot get away with they’re yobbish behaviour and lack of respect for authority in Thailand as they do in their home countries.

The British fool was determined to have is own way, by hook or by crook, otherwise if he was really only concerned about the stupid balloons he could have travelled by taxi with no restrictions or problems. What makes this worse is that he put the woman and child in the way of harm just to prove a point.

It was about losing face on the part of the British guy and having total disregard for the rules and regulations set by this form of public transport system and those who are hired to enforce those rules, for reasons of keeping the railways safe on behalf of those that use these services. They were only doing their job.

The fool took a gamble that he could overrule the authority of the security guards and lost. He deserved all that he got and I know whose side I am on.

[DP25]

From the video, the guy is seriously injured BEFORE he's even through ticketing. He's bleeding profusely from the area of his left eye. We can't see what happened before the injury, but there is no excuse whatsoever for a BTS security guard to brutally attack someone for carrying balloons when they weren't even through the ticket machine yet. Yes he's aggressive but he's also just been seriously attacked and battered upside the head and is bleeding everywhere. You don't bash someone in the head hard enough to cause serious bleeding for holding balloons.

Here's the video

Edited March 20, 2012 by DP25

[llso]

Surely Long Term tourists and expats who have been around Thailand for many years can see the changing attitude of many Thais towards Foreigners. These types of stories are becoming all to frequent. I noticed a difference in my last two trips. One for 2 and half months in 2009 and 1 month in 2011.

LL

[submaniac]

^^

What makes you think that if a Thai did it that the Thai would not have been hit over the head too? Keep in mind that I (nor anyone on this forum who was not present) does not know what exactly happened. We only have the video after the Irishman was already hit in the head. However, if a Thai had come in pushed/shoved/hit a security guard (which I don't know happened here or not) they may have been hit over the head as well. There's certainly Thai on Thai violence in Thailand. We are discussing it here because it happened to a Falang. There's also another Falang in the video who WAS NOT HIT and from all accounts was not injured. I would not equate whatever happened with anti-foreigner sentiment among the Thai people. This is an altercation between two people. Don't necessarily turn it into something it is not.

The person filming the video appears to be the same person who Andrew Drummond interviewed, and that person was Thai. There were also other Thai bystanders who appeared to be horrified as to what has happened.

For a discussion of whether there is anti foreigner sentiment by the Thais, please see the various recent threads we have had on the topic.

Edited March 20, 2012 by submaniac

[farang000999]

TiT

[tw25rw]

there were a few instances some years back where hydrogen was used in balloons causing injury, though i suspect this story has become something of an urban myth.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say this is not true. Even if it has happened, the chance of these balloons being filled with hydrogen is very slim. Hydrogen is incredibly flammable, you would have to be insane to walk around with a balloon full of it. Where would you even get it from?

If it was exposed to a flame, there would be a loud pop and a burst of heat which might singe your hair, but it's not that dangerous. Not very practical for that purpose though.

[submaniac]

^^

Said balloons are neither filled with hydrogen nor filled with helium. Please see video at 54 seconds where said balloons are released and fall to the ground. The balloons are filled with regular old fashioned AIR.

[onionluke]

It is just as well the foriegner wasn't packing a firearm ( for self preservation reasons only) as somebody might have got shot .

[Soutpeel]

It is just as well the foriegner wasn't packing a firearm ( for self preservation reasons only) as somebody might have got shot .

Imagine if the foreigner had remembered to take his bottle of petrol out of the fridge that morning, or had been carrying his catapult..

[StreetCowboy]

To answer the OP's question:

- apparently, nobody knows.

EDIT: But we all seem able to invest confidence in our speculations as if they were fact

Edited March 21, 2012 by StreetCowboy

[wana]

the irishman looks fairly wel dressed and not like a drunk hooligan in vest and flip flops but its a terrible video

too hard to figure out what happened when videoed from a shaky phone that started AFTER

the incident had already kicked off

[Ijustwannateach]

Just as an FYI for some previous posts here:

1. There *have* been some incidents in Thailand where balloon vendors used hydrogen instead of helium- probably because it's cheaper, wherever they get it- and explosions and accidents have occurred- there was a news story about a stall at a temple fair blowing up a couple of years back.

2. I believe hydrogen is typically diatomic as a gas- and balloons are fully capable of holding all of the air's gases for extended periods of time- leakage is typically through the 'stopper'.

I think it would take some serious bad will for a foreigner accompanied by a wife and child to provoke one of the BTS staff to this extent, but as many are saying, we don't know what happened. I have noticed recently that 'no balloons' signs have gone up outside BTS stations- I wonder if that was before or after this event? They have been posted in the MRT since it opened.

[evadgib]

I would also add one more point, the batons/nightsticks/truncheons are to be used strictly for body blows. In the United States if a police officer used a baton to the head that would be considered the use of deadly force, and the justification for using a baton to the head would be the same justification needed for the use of a firearm.

We Brits learned that lesson too, longbones, collarbones & underarm strokes. Overarm & head blows were a no-no. Unfortunatly there doesn't seem to be any formal training, discipline or culpability here.

Edited March 21, 2012 by evadgib

[samran]

But of course we need the buddah amulet geniuses coming to the rescue of the thais as usual. Thais are a millimeter past 3rd world because they are perfect in every way right?

Well, you have the redneck, yobbish end of the argument well covered there, 'Thailand'. Bit of balance in the debate only seems fair.

[NewlyMintedThai]

Who cares what was or might have been in the balloons?

If you disobey the orders of security personnel at a mass transit station anywhere in the world in this day and age, you can expect to be taken down in short order.

I don't think the defenders of the farang lout would be singing quite the same tune had he been an Arab in turban and flowing robes.

And the reaction when the Customs official resisted the orders of the security personnel at Suvarnabhumi? Universally against the Customs guy. Why different now? Because the offender was a superior farang this time?

Personally, I think it is great that the guards were not intimidated by the guy's bully-boy behavior and performed their jobs well.

I'll feel that much safer next time I ride the BTS.

[BookMan]

Oh rubbish! A BTS user does not "deserve" to be beaten by staff just because he doesn't want to obey the rules. The job of security is not to beat someone in public but to physically STOP them from boarding the train until the police arrive. Do London underground staff beat up those insisting on carrying beer onto the trains?

The simple fact is that security don't know how to handle if when their authority is undermined. No common sense.

they are allowed to use force ,thats why they give them those big batons

if security was not allowed to do anything they would be helpless observers and nobody would take them seriously

like a dog with no teeth ,theyde be useless

even stealing from a shop ,in the uk ,its assault if a security guard touches you ,so you can walk around stealing

and he isnt alowed to put his hands on you until you have left the premises etc

if they think you stole something in thailand ,prepare to be dragged kicking and screaming into the back room for a search and possibly a beating if you struggle

it good to have rights ,but its the scum who play the system and abuse those rights that <deleted> it up for everyone

God gave me big fists, and created me 1920 cm tall too, so watch out if I am in a bad mood, I will probably break your neck, and that's fair enough because you are a runt with an attitude.

1920 cm tall? did you come here by plane or strapped to a cargo vessell ?

he climbed down from his beanstalk

[robblok]

I would also add one more point, the batons/nightsticks/truncheons are to be used strictly for body blows. In the United States if a police officer used a baton to the head that would be considered the use of deadly force, and the justification for using a baton to the head would be the same justification needed for the use of a firearm.

We Brits learned that lesson too, longbones, collarbones & underarm strokes. Overarm & head blows were a no-no. Unfortunatly there doesn't seem to be any formal training, discipline or culpability here.

What do you expect at those salary levels and this country.

[daftpunker]

Well i guess the thais were too heavy handed as usual.more likely a communacation breakdown,would it not have been easier to just leave the balloons?

[robblok]

Who cares what was or might have been in the balloons?

If you disobey the orders of security personnel at a mass transit station anywhere in the world in this day and age, you can expect to be taken down in short order.

I don't think the defenders of the farang lout would be singing quite the same tune had he been an Arab in turban and flowing robes.

And the reaction when the Customs official resisted the orders of the security personnel at Suvarnabhumi? Universally against the Customs guy. Why different now? Because the offender was a superior farang this time?

Personally, I think it is great that the guards were not intimidated by the guy's bully-boy behavior and performed their jobs well.

I'll feel that much safer next time I ride the BTS.

I don't think he deserved that much of a beating, but you should just obey the rules or else find an other mode of transportation. I mean violence is the only thing they can do with people who don't obey the rules.

[FWIW]

Good grief. The man was with his wife and child and carrying balloons. Balloons! Not a Molotov cocktail, not a knife or a gun - balloons!

Under no circumstances should this have resulted in a potentially lethal head blow with a truncheon.

[robblok]

Good grief. The man was with his wife and child and carrying balloons. Balloons! Not a Molotov cocktail, not a knife or a gun - balloons!

Under no circumstances should this have resulted in a potentially lethal head blow with a truncheon.

Im sure it would not have resulted in violence if he had not taken them there or obeyed the rules.

[FWIW]

Good grief. The man was with his wife and child and carrying balloons. Balloons! Not a Molotov cocktail, not a knife or a gun - balloons!

Under no circumstances should this have resulted in a potentially lethal head blow with a truncheon.

Im sure it would not have resulted in violence if he had not taken them there or obeyed the rules.

Oh come on. Security are not there to administer violent retribution to the rule breaker.

They could have stopped the trains, called the police and had it dealt with formally.

You happy with every security guard in the country deciding when a violent beating should be administered for a rule infraction?

The response should ALWAYS be in proportion to the "crime", and in this case it was not.

Edited March 21, 2012 by FWIW

[Kilgore Trout]

Good grief. The man was with his wife and child and carrying balloons. Balloons! Not a Molotov cocktail, not a knife or a gun - balloons!

Under no circumstances should this have resulted in a potentially lethal head blow with a truncheon.

Im sure it would not have resulted in violence if he had not taken them there or obeyed the rules.

Agreed, in Saudi women are stoned to death for infidelity. Those are the rules there and they are getting what they deserve. Perhaps if we did this in Britain we would have a much better society. People deserve to be beaten bloody or killed when they break the rules.

Glad to see you agree with me robblock. You are a forward thinking individual.

[wana]

stop a train ,close a station and delay thousands of people for 1 idiot farang ? are you serious ?

i think you have a very warped sense of the importance of 1 farang in the bigger picture of thailnds transport system

i would give him a slap myself if his antics was delaying my train and save security the hassle !