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

[Livinginexile]

He is clearly being agressive towards the BTS security and at one point is pushing and trying to fight one of them.

Then he hurls abuse at the female security guard and is physically restrained by another farang before he assults them further.

What kind of man puts his young daughter through such a traumatic experience like this...and all for a few balloons!

What a #*&%

[canuckamuck]

Amazing how mny people still don't realize that the video posted here is just what happened after the assault occured.

How can you judge anything from what you see there other than the fact that guy is bleeding and pissed off.

It is unfortunate that the previous thread on this was closed because it contained a lot of information including witness accounts

[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.

[TheWalkingMan]

Policeman they spoke to at the time said he wasn't going to arrest any Thais, so the farangs had better go home!

[jonclark]

I know the people involved, heard about it when it happened & they have seen the CCTV footage which shows the whole episode, started by the guard hitting him with his metal detector, hence the cut eye at the start of the youtube clip.

The person who took the video also does explain that her clip is only the final 2 minutes of the whole episode, which she started to record because she thought the foreigners were being treated unfairly. This is stated on the Andrew Drummond website I beleive.

Far too many posts implying & suggesting things that are very wide of the mark.

Policeman they spoke to at the time said he wasn't going to arrest any Thais, so the farangs had better go home!

The people involved wish it hadn't got this far, but that is the power of video media online these days!

It "started" with the guard hitting him with his metal detector??

Surely there was something before that.

Poor choice of words "started'. I think exacerbated, or multiplied might be more appropriate.

[DP25]

Im feeling a sense of deja vu.

Didnt this entire discussion and thread happen just twenty four hours ago, admittedly by a completely different set of posters?

Was there any other information on there about what happened prior to this video?

There was this post

http://www.thaivisa....04#entry5152204

Which says that the guard told him he could only take some of his balloons, not all, and father tried to enter the turnstile anyway. So the guard smashed him in the face with his metal detector

Edited March 22, 2012 by DP25

[Roj]

Back in the UK transport staff going about their work are verbally abused and assaulted by arrogant members of the public on a daily basis because there is very little chance of the perpetrator being brought to book. Unfortunately, for some farangs, they think they can treat transit staff here as they do back in the West. Bad move, because if you start behaving aggressively towards staff you will be dealt with. If you`re asked to adhere to the byelaws here, just do it - it really is that simple and your day won`t be spoilt. Too many people take it as a personal slight if challenged (even some farangs don`t like to lose face).

[Sailfish1]

In the video above, I don't see the security guard hitting the foreignor with a baton. However, if the guard did hit him with a baton, that guard should be fired and even possibly charged with assault. There is no reason for violence over a few balloons, especially when the foreigner is with his little daughter. Geeez, what is it with some of these security guards who are on some type of power trip!

[torasap]

A security guard who's got the guts to show who's in charge?! Outstanding, I would hire him any day!

[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.

Edited March 22, 2012 by Nisa

[Nisa]

A security guard who's got the guts to show who's in charge?! Outstanding, I would hire him any day!

Agree.

[yellow1red1]

seriously, the farang appears to have blood on his left eye, right from the start of the video. where is the part where anyone uses a baton? at 53/54 seconds the farang, clearly punches the Guard. it knocks the guard back, and knocks his hat off. The guard puts his hat back on and puts his arms out to stop him going on with the balloons. NO baton in his hands. at 1;20 the farang aggressively charges the guard. It's lucky the other farang stopped him, at least twice, physically, from going further attacking. The headline, and the story is very misleading... if you watch the the very start, it looks like he creams his own head on the turnstile when he tries to pick up his precious balloons he dropped. there is no Baton in this video

The father was attacked before the video started. He's bleeding because he already got bashed in the head with a metal detactor by the guard. That's when filming began

you know this ... how? The guard has nothing in his hands, you can freeze frame and see that. and they were on opposite sides of the gates. the Irish guy does 4 assaults in the video, his friend headlocked him from it being much worse. when he tries to kick the new guard in the head, his own daughter's head was within a meter of his foot.. oh,,, did you notice the little girl handing some of the balloons to the guard without the hat. she showed more brains than daddy!

[MEL1]

I haven't seen so many singled sided self-opinionated posts ever at TV, before this thread.

Nobody here knows what happened before the attached phone-vid started, so how on earth can this fellow be accused of being drunk, after he's obviously been hit on the head. If he is a well respected teacher, as claimed, I'm sure he wouldn't be drinking around his daughter in the day, as teachers just don't. (Good teachers, that is)

To say he's a thug, after he's been hit and is very angry is ridiculous. Nobody knows any details. For all and sundry, with the balloons it may well have been his daughter's birthday, and who wouldn't want to keep her balloons. Heresay, of course, just like the rest of the trash that has been posted here. As for being with a little girl, and the balloons it's ludicrous not to permit him on the train with them. Safety issue my arse!

As nobody knows for sure, until the CCTV evidence is released, if ever, then there is no point at all in making self-indulgent, some racist, some down-right petty, and most based upon uninformed info; posts.

Time to move on, for me anyway.

-mel

[Covenant]

The BTS is one of the most Clean, Safe and Reliable in the world. Proceedures were put in place to make the transit experience as pleasant as possible for travellers, to include no eating or drinking, and in this case, no balloons. As a practical question, we all know how busy the BTS is, if some guy then comes on with a bunch of balloons to be stuck in your face, how annoying is that?

As to his behaviour on the video, you can see he is trying to throw his weight about to bypass the security proceedures. This was totally unnecessary as he could simply have gone downstairs, and jumped in one of the thousands of taxis that are available, to take him and his family to their destination.

Security had every right to use harsher methods when this thugish idiot wanted to show of to all and sundry. Thailand is clearly not his home country, and he should be respectful of the rules.

[Nisa]

In the video above, I don't see the security guard hitting the foreignor with a baton. However, if the guard did hit him with a baton, that guard should be fired and even possibly charged with assault. There is no reason for violence over a few balloons, especially when the foreigner is with his little daughter. Geeez, what is it with some of these security guards who are on some type of power trip!

And you believe he may have hit him "because of balloons" for what reason? If you are told you cannot enter the BTS because you have balloons (which is the rules) and you refuse to obey these rules and lawful demands to not enter .. do you really believe security doesn't have the right to use force to prevent entry and defend themselves from physical aggression by someone trying to force their way onto the BTS illegally?

[Ferangled]

Back in the UK transport staff going about their work are verbally abused and assaulted by arrogant members of the public on a daily basis because there is very little chance of the perpetrator being brought to book. Unfortunately, for some farangs, they think they can treat transit staff here as they do back in the West. Bad move, because if you start behaving aggressively towards staff you will be dealt with. If you`re asked to adhere to the byelaws here, just do it - it really is that simple and your day won`t be spoilt. Too many people take it as a personal slight if challenged (even some farangs don`t like to lose face).

It's fairly clear the poor guy did his level best to ignore the guard, who clearly wasn't acting in a manner conducive to resolving the situation amicably. Since when did a few balloons warrant being assaulted with a weapon? He was holding them for his daughter who was forced to witness the entire incident. Some common sense from the guards would be welcome.

As it is I'm surprised that the man showed such restraint, with blood pouring from his head, he clearly just wanted to get away from the guard and put the incident behind him. Meanwhile the guard, obviously like many in a position of "power" wasn't happy with merely assaulting the guy and terrorizing his daughter, he had to chase after them and try to provoke further response.

I think he would of been entirely justified knocking the guard out. Whenever you are confronted in a physical manner like this with children in tow it's hard not to let the primal response to defend your family out. He acted with great restraint and the guard should consider himself lucky to be able to walk away from this.

[whybother]

There was this post

http://www.thaivisa....04#entry5152204

Which says that the guard told him he could only take some of his balloons, not all, and father tried to enter the turnstile anyway. So the guard smashed him in the face with his metal detector

I doubt the "Guard tells him he can take half but not all." I've seen people turned away for having a single balloon.

Also, the fact that he arrived with the balloons are irrelevant. It's possible he simply ignored someone that tried to stop him that time, but more likely that previously there was just a lax guard.

There may not have been justification for being hit with metal detector, but there is certainly no excuse for simply ignoring the directions of a guard. Without seeing him being hit, we don't know if he was hit deliberately or accidentally (ie the guard went to grab him and hit him accidentally).

[yellow1red1]

................................................ The man is clearly non hostile and is trying to understand why he has become a victim of such unforgiviable agression..........................................

Can you give us a link to the video you watched, because it certainly wasn't the one at the beginning of the thread.

he meant the guard, surely, when the Irish jumped the gate he barged the woman guard, that was 1 of the 4 assaults he did in the video, plus nearly kicking his girl

[webfact]

BTS file complaints against foreign passenger

BANGKOK: -- Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS), the operator the Skytrain, has lodged a complaint against a foreign passenger who allegedly quarrelled and fought with BTS security guards over his attempt to bring along four floating balloons into a train.

The passenger, John Behan, has also filed a complaint against the security guards. In his complaint, the guards attacked him in front of his young daughter.

"Our complaint is about the damages to property and attempts to attack our staff members," BTS executive Anat Arbhabhirama said Thursday.

-- The Nation 2012-03-22

[whybother]

Back in the UK transport staff going about their work are verbally abused and assaulted by arrogant members of the public on a daily basis because there is very little chance of the perpetrator being brought to book. Unfortunately, for some farangs, they think they can treat transit staff here as they do back in the West. Bad move, because if you start behaving aggressively towards staff you will be dealt with. If you`re asked to adhere to the byelaws here, just do it - it really is that simple and your day won`t be spoilt. Too many people take it as a personal slight if challenged (even some farangs don`t like to lose face).

It's fairly clear the poor guy did his level best to ignore the guard, who clearly wasn't acting in a manner conducive to resolving the situation amicably. Since when did a few balloons warrant being assaulted with a weapon? He was holding them for his daughter who was forced to witness the entire incident. Some common sense from the guards would be welcome.

As it is I'm surprised that the man showed such restraint, with blood pouring from his head, he clearly just wanted to get away from the guard and put the incident behind him. Meanwhile the guard, obviously like many in a position of "power" wasn't happy with merely assaulting the guy and terrorizing his daughter, he had to chase after them and try to provoke further response.

I think he would of been entirely justified knocking the guard out. Whenever you are confronted in a physical manner like this with children in tow it's hard not to let the primal response to defend your family out. He acted with great restraint and the guard should consider himself lucky to be able to walk away from this.

How about some commonsense from the teacher. He was told he wasn't allowed to take the balloons on the train, but he ignored those instructions.

[pedro01]

I have used the BTS since its inception and never had a problem. If someone says please don't take balloons on the train. I would say "oh okay no problem. I will get a taxi". I fully understand why on a crowded train you don't want balloons stuck in your face.

It's not that...

Fact is there's been balloons sold with very flammable gas inside them.

TIT I'm afraid.

The rule is there for good reason.

[whybother]

I haven't seen so many singled sided self-opinionated posts ever at TV, before this thread.

Nobody here knows what happened before the attached phone-vid started, so how on earth can this fellow be accused of being drunk, after he's obviously been hit on the head. If he is a well respected teacher, as claimed, I'm sure he wouldn't be drinking around his daughter in the day, as teachers just don't. (Good teachers, that is)

To say he's a thug, after he's been hit and is very angry is ridiculous. Nobody knows any details. For all and sundry, with the balloons it may well have been his daughter's birthday, and who wouldn't want to keep her balloons. Heresay, of course, just like the rest of the trash that has been posted here. As for being with a little girl, and the balloons it's ludicrous not to permit him on the train with them. Safety issue my arse!

As nobody knows for sure, until the CCTV evidence is released, if ever, then there is no point at all in making self-indulgent, some racist, some down-right petty, and most based upon uninformed info; posts.

Time to move on, for me anyway.

-mel

"Heresay, of course, just like the rest of the trash that has been posted here."

[bobl]

I watched the video twice to be sure, but all I could see was a farang being extremely arrogant, possibly slightly inebriated from his gait and manner, and acting like a thug... Did I miss something?

End of the day you can't really tell what happened from that clip - as easily misinterpreted as hearing half a conversation out of context - but on the face of this clip the farang looks like he's being a proper arse.

[marquis22]

I haven't seen so many singled sided self-opinionated posts ever at TV, before this thread.

Nobody here knows what happened before the attached phone-vid started, so how on earth can this fellow be accused of being drunk, after he's obviously been hit on the head. If he is a well respected teacher, as claimed, I'm sure he wouldn't be drinking around his daughter in the day, as teachers just don't. (Good teachers, that is)

To say he's a thug, after he's been hit and is very angry is ridiculous. Nobody knows any details. For all and sundry, with the balloons it may well have been his daughter's birthday, and who wouldn't want to keep her balloons. Heresay, of course, just like the rest of the trash that has been posted here. As for being with a little girl, and the balloons it's ludicrous not to permit him on the train with them. Safety issue my arse!

As nobody knows for sure, until the CCTV evidence is released, if ever, then there is no point at all in making self-indulgent, some racist, some down-right petty, and most based upon uninformed info; posts.

Time to move on, for me anyway.

-mel

Mel .. your arse does need moving on or not into Thailand if you cannot accept their laws .. The idiot was disobeying the law in wanting to take stupid balloons onto the train!

[keemapoot]

I watched the extensive coverage of this on channel 3 news this morning, albeit chuckling. Their reporting seemed thorough and fair. They reported that he was a teacher (though he and his pal look more like a drunk missionary to me), and that he did not pay his BTS fare, firstly, and secondly, he tried to take the gas-filled baloons onto the BTS because of the danger of ignition or even slight damage, which channel 3 explained was carefully explained to him in English. If he didn't have the fare for the BTS, he most certainly didn't have the taxi fare to avoid the entire confrontation in the first place.

On those facts, I say farang loses.

[metisdead]

Inflammatory profane rants and nonsense posts have been removed.

[HeavyDrinker]

I bet some of you think those poor small, gentle Jet Ski boys are quite justified in doing what they do because the big nasty "Farang" allegedly damaged their Jet Ski...

[Pattel]

I have used the BTS since its inception and never had a problem. If someone says please don't take balloons on the train. I would say "oh okay no problem. I will get a taxi". I fully understand why on a crowded train you don't want balloons stuck in your face.

It's not that...

Fact is there's been balloons sold with very flammable gas inside them.

TIT I'm afraid.

The rule is there for good reason.

Sorry to tell you this but ballons are not filled with flammable gas inside them. They are filled with a non flammable gas. I think its Helium. Do you think that Disney would give/sell ballons to children if they were dangerous.

[newsweird]

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?

[pedro01]

Are baloons any different to a pipe bomb? No, not when you don't know what they are filled with.

errr - balloons tend not to contain shrapnel, they'd have trouble floating if they did...