Foreigner Assaulted At Bangkok BTS Station By Security Guard - Police Launch Investigation

[Nisa]

If this was the US, the guy would still be feeling the effects of the stun guns and pepper spray if not still recuperating in the in the hospital from injuries while handcuffed to a jail bed .

Question is - If Thailand wants to promote tourism and push for a Disney Land. How would tourist get there? BTS? Will they take everything away from the kids before going home? .... "forget I asked that, of coarse they would to resell to next family" The main thing is all need to get on the same page in regard to tourism and decide as a nation which orifice it wants to speak from.

I think families and all BTS riders would be happy to know these types of people are not welcome. Clearly Andrew Drummond's interest in not to promote tourism but anybody looking at this video with a non-biased view would see this guy was out of line and disrespecting lawful authority while making a scene doing it ... in fact it is logical to assume he was making a significant scene before the video started even rolling otherwise nobody would have video taped him.

If you are concerned with tourism and the image of Thailand then you should direct your comments to people who take videos like this and sensationalize them with completely misleading headlines that insinuate a farang was a victim of a Thai attack when the video indicates the farang caused the incident and was the aggressor. Then again not sure it would help as it is easier to make a living being a tabloid reporter than a respected one.

From my first post I clearly stated the farang made a bad judgment call and should have taken a taxi. The question still remains however, if the talk from yesterday regarding "Disney Land" were to materialize, would toys and balloons be taken away from children? It is a simple "Yes or No" answer or was that an orifice thing again that lead you out into the Thai blue yander?

Sorry, I really didn't believe you needed an answer to this question. If balloons are not allowed on the BTS then of course they need to not be allowed on the BTS regardless if they are held by a child or came from Disney Land. I guess they will have to deal with all the fallout from such a policy as the airlines have had to in enforcing the no inflated balloon onboard a plane even if the flight originates in an area that has a Disneyland ... or for that matter the repercussions the MTR in Japan has felt for having the same rules even at the Disney Land stop.

Edited March 22, 2012 by Nisa

[Petesear]

If this was the US, the guy would still be feeling the effects of the stun guns and pepper spray if not still recuperating in the in the hospital from injuries while handcuffed to a jail bed .

But if this incident did happen in the Good 'ol US of A then the guard would have been able to explain why the guy had been refused entry even though his daughter had been let through, and there may have even been a sign explaining what is prohibited on the train...

There are signs that state balloons are prohibited and there is nothing to indicate the guy couldn't understand this. In fact, the farang appears to demonstrate an attitude of superiority (not an uncommon trait going by posts here) over the Thai security and doesn't seem to be the least bit concerned with following security's orders or trying to understand what the problem. It seems this foreigner believed he was above the law or at the very least didn't have to show the respect one should to somebody in charge of security in a public transportation terminal ... especially if one is a foreigner in that country.

And just curious, are you suggesting that subway, bus or train security in the US are able to communicate in Thai?

No, I am suggesting that they should be able to communicate in English.

Unless you were there, I wasn't, you don't know how the Irish guy was injured, what provoked it or anything else that happened off camera. So how can you really understand his behaviour whilst on camera?

[F4UCorsair]

moonbarman said Then why were'nt the rules enforced at the airport incident when the hiso thai not only barged through the checkpoint but assaulted the security officer,I don't condone anything the farang did in this video(think he showed poor judgement),but i would have liked to have seen what would have happened if a high ranking thai had been carrying the balloons, the guards would've probably carried them to the train for him bowing and scraping all the way, one rule for thai another for farang, same same as always.

This is a variation on the old expression, 'Life is a $hit sandwich, the more bread you have, the less $hit you have to eat'. I wouldn't agree with it either, and it may not happen as you suggest, but if it did, it would be a serious breach.

[arthurwait]

It gives a whole new meaning to going clubbing in Bangkok!

On a serious note, it does worry me on the level of gratuitous violence that I am now reading about by Thais on farangs.

Judging from Thai news (TV and print), and even the dramas on TV, Thais are a very physically violent people. Sometimes non-thais are on the receiving end.

Yea them bloody violent Thais! Did you sehe vid? See that little violent Thai trying to get the placid farang away. I should go back to my own country. No violent people there. Bloody 'ell!

I'm my post or the one I was commenting on, no mention was made of the video. It was obviously a comment made towards Thai society in general. Have another beer Chang and forget your English.

Yes there are certainly some violent Thais same as every country, but the reason some people do what they want in this country is because pretty much no one complains. The reason most people don't complain is because they are scared of picking on the wrong person who is violent. The majority of Thai people are the people who don't complain, so it's the majority of Thais who are none violent. poor education also figures into all of that.

Edited March 22, 2012 by arthurwait

[HeavyDrinker]

The lovely irony from this topic is that it really has shown there are indeed some utter fools here these days....but not the bloke who was at the BTS station after being assaulted.

Just to re-iterate what has been said MANY times:

The video shows what happened AFTER the initial incident.

If you need me to explain that in any more detail, PM me.

Some of the "he got what he deserved" posters have embarrassed themselves here and shown themselves to be of lesser intelligence than any TEFLer I know...

[chinook]

If he's got any balls, he'd go to the copshop to offer the security guards his apologies and some cash as a 'sorry about that' gesture.

[sparebox2]

The lovely irony from this topic is that it really has shown there are indeed some utter fools here these days....but not the bloke who was at the BTS station after being assaulted.

Just to re-iterate what has been said MANY times:

The video shows what happened AFTER the initial incident.

If you need me to explain that in any more detail, PM me.

Some of the "he got what he deserved" posters have embarrassed themselves here and shown themselves to be of lesser intelligence than any TEFLer I know...

Some of the "the Thai security guard is not very bright and could not communicate in Farang languages" posters have embarrassed themselves here and shown themselves to be of lesser intelligence than any TEFLer I know...

[moonbarman]

Nothing really new here, Give a Thai an uniform and he is growing two meters.... I just had yesterday an argument again with our nice VILLA MARKET Security guy at HOMEPRO in Chalong, Phuket..... Was the second time he was yelling at me because I want park on an empty car parking lot...the whole carpark was empty, motobike parkingsspace was full.... He is so agressive its rediculous they let a guy like him work there.....all the other guards there are nice ppl and complained similar....

Hope you complained at the HomePro Information/Service desk.

Have they moved him to homepro at darasamut cos theres a new little hitler turned up there.

[Pseudolus]

I just wonder what all the farang protectors here would say if this happened in their own country. Man tries to take something onto a mass public transport system in the capital city a few weeks after a (failed) terrorist attack. The Security try to stop him; he gets pushy (that's being polite) and tries to push through anyway;might have or might not have attacked a female guard depending upon conflicting reports, damaged a bin (showing signs of disproportionate anger?) and gets whacked by a security guard. What would the public in your home country say if it happened in New York, Paris, London... well when Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes pushed through a turnstile in London, failed to stop when the guards shouted stop, he ended up getting shot 7 times in the head and most people I know in the UK think "well, he was a fool, and I would rather they topped him and be wrong then not top him resulting in another 100 people getting blown up. Its almost as if because we are expats, we can not possibly be terrorists so leave us alone despite that I have known many Iranians in my time and they can look very western, almost Welsh or Irish?

Although it is rare that security people here actually do do their job, maybe it should be appreciated when they do. I'd rather cop a smack to the head myself and know they were doing a good job than to have the bts go boom, or for the entire train to get done over with Sarin at some point in the future.

How about call police?

two points - not relevant to kiddies balloons, but calling the police when someone is pushing past security when being told to stop takes too long and opens up the possibility of something altogether more serious happening. Secondly, calling the police in this circumstance might have cost the paddy a lot more than a bump on the head;more like an arm and a leg in the "go away" money.

[arthurwait]

I just wonder what all the farang protectors here would say if this happened in their own country. Man tries to take something onto a mass public transport system in the capital city a few weeks after a (failed) terrorist attack. The Security try to stop him; he gets pushy (that's being polite) and tries to push through anyway;might have or might not have attacked a female guard depending upon conflicting reports, damaged a bin (showing signs of disproportionate anger?) and gets whacked by a security guard. What would the public in your home country say if it happened in New York, Paris, London... well when Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes pushed through a turnstile in London, failed to stop when the guards shouted stop, he ended up getting shot 7 times in the head and most people I know in the UK think "well, he was a fool, and I would rather they topped him and be wrong then not top him resulting in another 100 people getting blown up. Its almost as if because we are expats, we can not possibly be terrorists so leave us alone despite that I have known many Iranians in my time and they can look very western, almost Welsh or Irish?

Although it is rare that security people here actually do do their job, maybe it should be appreciated when they do. I'd rather cop a smack to the head myself and know they were doing a good job than to have the bts go boom, or for the entire train to get done over with Sarin at some point in the future.

How about call police?

Would he have waited around for them to turn up ?

[sydneyjed]

From what I saw of the video and read elsewhere, it's the guys own fault. He tried to do something that isn't allowed, got abusive, and got what was to be expected when you get abusive with security/police.

Hang on a minute..."From what I saw on the video"....You saw less than half the incident what are you on about?...None Of Us Did!!!Talk about judgemental..you didn't see the incident leading upto this..or the assault!!And as for what "you read"...What exactly did you read..and from who?...Someone down the Robin Hood who heard it off someone else who knew someone elses wifes friend who'd heard it from a flower seller outside the Coyote Mexican?

I'm not condoning any of the behaviour..especially with a seven year minor present..but if the guy was assaulted with a truncheon for just trying to walk through with a bunch of balloons accompanied by his daughter...It f..king sucks ...It doesn't look good and certainly won't look any better in the world wide tabloids no doubt in the coming days!!

[BKKBrit]

The lovely irony from this topic is that it really has shown there are indeed some utter fools here these days....but not the bloke who was at the BTS station after being assaulted.

Just to re-iterate what has been said MANY times:

The video shows what happened AFTER the initial incident.

If you need me to explain that in any more detail, PM me.

Some of the "he got what he deserved" posters have embarrassed themselves here and shown themselves to be of lesser intelligence than any TEFLer I know...

Regardless of this being after 'the event', the story also clearly states that he was told NOT to take the balloons, right? This is stated clearly at the beginning of the thread. Had this man then walked away, taken a cab, we wouldn't be here wasting our time.

[HeavyDrinker]

Some of the "the Thai security guard is not very bright and could not communicate in Farang languages" posters have embarrassed themselves here and shown themselves to be of lesser intelligence than any TEFLer I know...

Indeed.

[sparebox2]

If this was the US, the guy would still be feeling the effects of the stun guns and pepper spray if not still recuperating in the in the hospital from injuries while handcuffed to a jail bed .

But if this incident did happen in the Good 'ol US of A then the guard would have been able to explain why the guy had been refused entry even though his daughter had been let through, and there may have even been a sign explaining what is prohibited on the train...

There are signs that state balloons are prohibited and there is nothing to indicate the guy couldn't understand this. In fact, the farang appears to demonstrate an attitude of superiority (not an uncommon trait going by posts here) over the Thai security and doesn't seem to be the least bit concerned with following security's orders or trying to understand what the problem. It seems this foreigner believed he was above the law or at the very least didn't have to show the respect one should to somebody in charge of security in a public transportation terminal ... especially if one is a foreigner in that country.

And just curious, are you suggesting that subway, bus or train security in the US are able to communicate in Thai?

No, I am suggesting that they should be able to communicate in English.

Unless you were there, I wasn't, you don't know how the Irish guy was injured, what provoked it or anything else that happened off camera. So how can you really understand his behaviour whilst on camera?

Thai guard typically gets 6,500 Baht/month. 8hr shift, 6 days a week. You expect them to be able to communicate in English?

[MEL1]

Balloons are not allowed on electrified rail networks as if the balloon has a line and wonders off in a gust of wind the line will conduct the electricity and most probably kill the hapless person connected to the balloon. This is a lot more relevant on rail networks with overhead lines, as has been mentioned before we don't have solid facts about what occurred before this was filmed but having worked on trains back home, balloons are definitely safety risks on electrified rail networks and I could speculate this whole issue happened because the foreigner was told he couldn't enter with balloons.

My physics teacher taught me that if you rub a baloon, you can get electric charge with will cause spark that set of combustion, which can kick off an explosion.

Dangerous stuff they are.

I don't recall passing my Physics exam though.

<Snip!> me! Is that what they taught you in Thai Physics? No wonder you're as thick as ***t.! Pass? Didn't your parents buy your pass, when your mark was suddenly changed to a C+ from a miserable 30%?

The guy had balloons and his daughter. He wasn't some zombified terrorist, quite clearly.

All this previous heresay is now excalating into complete rubbish. All of it!

Nobody still knows the facts, but is compelled to give an opinion which contains no iota of knowledge. What a load of balloon balls!!!

-mel.

Edited March 22, 2012 by metisdead

[Petesear]

The lovely irony from this topic is that it really has shown there are indeed some utter fools here these days....but not the bloke who was at the BTS station after being assaulted.

Just to re-iterate what has been said MANY times:

The video shows what happened AFTER the initial incident.

If you need me to explain that in any more detail, PM me.

Some of the "he got what he deserved" posters have embarrassed themselves here and shown themselves to be of lesser intelligence than any TEFLer I know...

Regardless of this being after 'the event', the story also clearly states that he was told NOT to take the balloons, right? This is stated clearly at the beginning of the thread. Had this man then walked away, taken a cab, we wouldn't be here wasting our time.

If there are not any signs saying no balloons, and he had earlier that day travelled on BTS with the same balloons, then I doubt anything was clearly stated!

All that happened was his daughter passed through the turnstiles and he was stopped. What happened after that seems to be everyone's guess..

[MEL1]

I just wonder what all the farang protectors here would say if this happened in their own country. Man tries to take something onto a mass public transport system in the capital city a few weeks after a (failed) terrorist attack. The Security try to stop him; he gets pushy (that's being polite) and tries to push through anyway;might have or might not have attacked a female guard depending upon conflicting reports, damaged a bin (showing signs of disproportionate anger?) and gets whacked by a security guard. What would the public in your home country say if it happened in New York, Paris, London... well when Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes pushed through a turnstile in London, failed to stop when the guards shouted stop, he ended up getting shot 7 times in the head and most people I know in the UK think "well, he was a fool, and I would rather they topped him and be wrong then not top him resulting in another 100 people getting blown up. Its almost as if because we are expats, we can not possibly be terrorists so leave us alone despite that I have known many Iranians in my time and they can look very western, almost Welsh or Irish?

Although it is rare that security people here actually do do their job, maybe it should be appreciated when they do. I'd rather cop a smack to the head myself and know they were doing a good job than to have the bts go boom, or for the entire train to get done over with Sarin at some point in the future.

How about call police?

Would he have waited around for them to turn up ?

Actually to quote him, he said, "Man tries to take something onto a mass transport system. He didn't say 'balloons for a kid'!

So the original quote of trying to create hysteria is a load of crap anyway!

-mel.

[HeavyDrinker]

Regardless of this being after 'the event', the story also clearly states that he was told NOT to take the balloons, right? This is stated clearly at the beginning of the thread. Had this man then walked away, taken a cab, we wouldn't be here wasting our time.

• Like This
  

Still, not knowing exactly what happened, why are you criticising the man?

We do not know whether the assault was provoked or not, yet you and your pals seem intent on solely blaming this man.

The balloons are not the issue. The assault is.

[chinook]

It's the tropical climate, the Irish can't deal with it. They get edgy if it hasn't rained in the last 20 minutes or if the thermometer goes over 15 celsius.

[canuckamuck]

I guess it is fairly misleading to have the video at the start of this thread which shows only the aftermath of the assault. Obviously most of the hang em high mob here is convinced the video shows the event from begining to end

This is a man coming back from his daughters graduation and the balloons were given to her on that day. She is 7 and she obviously felt the ballons were special. They already been on other bts trains that day with the balloons and they were on their way home. A guard tried to stop the father from entering the turnstiles with the balloons even though his daughter had already gone through.

What happened next is unclear but we know the father was hit on the head with a metal detector. When the video starts he already has blood running down his face.

Ok now judge the man based on the video posted here and the missing information we do not have.

[Curt1591]

The lovely irony from this topic is that it really has shown there are indeed some utter fools here these days....but not the bloke who was at the BTS station after being assaulted.

Just to re-iterate what has been said MANY times:

The video shows what happened AFTER the initial incident.

If you need me to explain that in any more detail, PM me.

Some of the "he got what he deserved" posters have embarrassed themselves here and shown themselves to be of lesser intelligence than any TEFLer I know...

Some of the "the Thai security guard is not very bright and could not communicate in Farang languages" posters have embarrassed themselves here and shown themselves to be of lesser intelligence than any TEFLer I know...

It seems like some always make it an "Us against Them" thing.

You know, that's the attitude that very possibly led to this confrontation.

[F1fanatic]

Nothing really new here, Give a Thai an uniform and he is growing two meters.... I just had yesterday an argument again with our nice VILLA MARKET Security guy at HOMEPRO in Chalong, Phuket..... Was the second time he was yelling at me because I want park on an empty car parking lot...the whole carpark was empty, motobike parkingsspace was full.... He is so agressive its rediculous they let a guy like him work there.....all the other guards there are nice ppl and complained similar....

Hope you complained at the HomePro Information/Service desk.

Have they moved him to homepro at darasamut cos theres a new little hitler turned up there.

I hope so !

[BusyBee123]

hasn't anyone heard of being 'punch drunk'? no wonder he was disorientated and staggering after being smashed in the face with a baton.

[aram_niakan]

It's simply a fraud: you can see from the begining that the Farang guy face is wounded already and just somebody else standing and getting the footage before eberything starts just fpr posting as evidence. Bullshit

[newsweird]

Yes and the whole time he is just trying to get through the turnstile and to the platform, he is not trying to fight the guard, he is trying to quickly get away with his family but they keep pulling him back and then they corner him at which point he starts to push the guard who (I assume) assaulted him with a weapon.

&lt;deleted&gt;. He's been told that he's not allowed to go on the train with the balloons!!! He's ignoring the guards and they are trying to stop him.

Oh my God BALLOONS!!! Hang him and then shoot him, or just smash him over the head with a heavy metal device and give him brain damage, he deserves the worst that he gets, right?

It's irrelevant what they were. He was told he wasn't allowed to take them on, and he ignored it.

He is not trying to fight the guard. He is just ignoring his instructions. Where do you draw the line?

You draw the line by having a clear SET of rules at ALL BTS stations, Not allowing some little snot nosed 19 year in uniform make them up as the day goes on. Show one posted sign at any BTS location stating a child can not carry a balloon. Guess what, you can't. Why was he allowed on earlier at different location and not this one?

[Nisa]

moonbarman said Then why were'nt the rules enforced at the airport incident when the hiso thai not only barged through the checkpoint but assaulted the security officer,I don't condone anything the farang did in this video(think he showed poor judgement),but i would have liked to have seen what would have happened if a high ranking thai had been carrying the balloons, the guards would've probably carried them to the train for him bowing and scraping all the way, one rule for thai another for farang, same same as always.

This is a variation on the old expression, 'Life is a $hit sandwich, the more bread you have, the less $hit you have to eat'. I wouldn't agree with it either, and it may not happen as you suggest, but if it did, it would be a serious breach.

Why do you have to bring up a fictional incident involving a Thai Hiso to put imaginary blame on the Thai Security? What if it was Angela Jolene and/or Brad Pitt with their kids or any other famous person? Famous and Powerful people are treated different across the globe and as you allude ... this is just life.

[MEL1]

Balloons are not allowed on electrified rail networks as if the balloon has a line and wonders off in a gust of wind the line will conduct the electricity and most probably kill the hapless person connected to the balloon. This is a lot more relevant on rail networks with overhead lines, as has been mentioned before we don't have solid facts about what occurred before this was filmed but having worked on trains back home, balloons are definitely safety risks on electrified rail networks and I could speculate this whole issue happened because the foreigner was told he couldn't enter with balloons.

My physics teacher taught me that if you rub a baloon, you can get electric charge with will cause spark that set of combustion, which can kick off an explosion.

Dangerous stuff they are.

I don't recall passing my Physics exam though.

Fck me! Is that what they taught you in Thai Physics? No wonder you're as thick as ***t.! Pass? Didn't your parents buy your pass, when your mark was suddenly changed to a C+ from a miserable 30%?

The guy had balloons and his daughter. He wasn't some zombified terrorist, quite clearly.

All this previous heresay is now excalating into complete rubbish. All of it!

Nobody still knows the facts, but is compelled to give an opinion which contains no iota of knowledge. What a load of balloon balls!!!

-mel.

Re: "He wasn't some zombified terrorist, quite clearly" .

So what do they look like then? How about this chap?

http://tinyurl.com/7juh7j7

I'm guessing you would let him cruise past you without a cursory check then or feeling the need to uphold the laws?

Sorreee! He isn't holding children's balloons!

[sparebox2]

You draw the line by having a clear SET of rules at ALL BTS stations, Not allowing some little snot nosed 19 year in uniform make them up as the day goes on. Show one posted sign at any BTS location stating a child can not carry a balloon. Guess what, you can't. Why was he allowed on earlier at different location and not this one?

http://paulvickersdesign.blogspot.com/2012/01/no-balloons.html

[canuckamuck]

This thread has certainly unified the self loathing westerner crowd.

[Nisa]

After watching the video again, I have very high praise for how security responded calmly to this out of control man's aggression.