Bangkok BTS Apologises For Guard's Clash With Irish Passenger

[hungryhippo]

Good point!! The balloons had to have been filled with helium, which is an inert gas. Guards totally in the wrong for stopping him. Wonder if anyone tried explaining this to the guards, or if they have even thought about it?

The guards are not in the wrong they are following the rules. There are signs that clearly say "no balloons" near the BTS stations.

[submaniac]

If rules must be enforced.

Whats the bottom right one ? Do not sh*t on the seats ?

You mean mebbe, the bottom one on the LEFT? The direction that is opposite to right?

[toenail]

Any expat that lives in Thailand knows: 1) you do not show your anger and raise your voice; 2) (not to be insulting) Many Thais in these kinds of jobs can only see white or black...in other words, not use to making independent decisions. Many are not given the opportunity in their rural schools to make decisions, think on their own. Yes, the security guard was wrong in hitting the guy...but we all know how the Thai smile can turn quickly into uncontrollable outrage.

[TexasRanger]

I might be tempted to smash someone in the head if he kicked me in the chest it I saw him kick a female colleague.

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

[SomTumTiger]

I think when the truth comes out there will be a lot of foolish looking people on this forum. Quite frankly the racism and ignorance I have read surrounding this incident is disgusting. The video only shows the aftermath of an incident in which the victim was violently assaulted, with a metal baton, by the BTS security guard. The CCTV surveilance footage, if released, confirms that the victim (whilst carrying balloons) was assaulted. There was no violence of any kind by the victim preceding this incident, just an argument about balloons, which is proved by the evidence on the CCTV. The victim has been offered compensation by the BTS and apologised to.

The victim is a well respected, educated professional, who made a mistake trying to take balloons onto the BTS, his reaction in the video is understandable considering what happened to him.

Those of you who have contributed to the racist and negative abuse of this person should be ashamed. What would your reaction be if you were smashed in the face with a baton during an argument about balloons, infront of your daughter?

And you know this because you have seen the CCTV coverage? Prove it.

[submaniac]

Is anyone else bored of this subject yet?

Three dam_n threads for some loser teacher getting his noggin bashed for being an idiot?

Come on.

Just do what I do...hover around and wait for opportunities to make smartass comments.

[Soutpeel]

If rules must be enforced.

Whats the bottom right one ? Do not sh*t on the seats ?

You mean mebbe, the bottom one on the LEFT? The direction that is opposite to right?

Woops yes i meant the other left...

[craigt3365]

Several posts have been removed due to use of a derogatory word being used. Please abide forum rules:

In using Thai Visa I agree:

1) To respect fellow members.

7) Not to post slurs or degrading comments directed towards any group on the basis of race, nationality, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

[Soutpeel]

Is anyone else bored of this subject yet?

For once I am really looking forward to the next Sin-Sot thread

[Payboy]

If rules must be enforced.

Whats the bottom right one ? Do not sh*t on the seats ?

You mean mebbe, the bottom one on the LEFT? The direction that is opposite to right?

Woops yes i meant the other left...

Ohh that one! It means don't pretend you're carrying balloons.

[RJJ]

Which begs thr most obvious question, how can anyone be allowed to sell inflammable gas in balloons. Helium not hydrogen is the way forward.

Had a kids party where a few went bang. Wondered how helium could go bang and realised the resident balloon guy had a hydrogen canister next to the barbecue.

The bang is simply the balloon splitting open.

The balloon wouldn't have contained hydrogen!

[Head Snake]

Can somebody please start a thread to appeal for the guard to get his job back.

This "gentleman" is delusional thinking he was in the right. BTS has right to refuse service to anyone. He was refused service and then began his trespasing and assaults.

Bring back the guard!!

Bring back the guard!!

let us meet the guard and let us apologize for the actions of the wonderful teacher .

Teacher, Thanks for teaching your child that acting like a fool has its merits, like a bashed head, balloons, flowers, name in the papers, criminal lawsuits, - yeah baby!!

Edited March 23, 2012 by Head Snake

[333]

I think when the truth comes out there will be a lot of foolish looking people on this forum. Quite frankly the racism and ignorance I have read surrounding this incident is disgusting. The video only shows the aftermath of an incident in which the victim was violently assaulted, with a metal baton, by the BTS security guard. The CCTV surveilance footage, if released, confirms that the victim (whilst carrying balloons) was assaulted. There was no violence of any kind by the victim preceding this incident, just an argument about balloons, which is proved by the evidence on the CCTV. The victim has been offered compensation by the BTS and apologised to.

The victim is a well respected, educated professional, who made a mistake trying to take balloons onto the BTS, his reaction in the video is understandable considering what happened to him.

Those of you who have contributed to the racist and negative abuse of this person should be ashamed. What would your reaction be if you were smashed in the face with a baton during an argument about balloons, infront of your daughter?

And you know this because you have seen the CCTV coverage? Prove it.

I know people who have seen the footage.

[chrisinth]

Helium not hydrogen is the way forward.

Good point!! The balloons had to have been filled with helium, which is an inert gas. Guards totally in the wrong for stopping him. Wonder if anyone tried explaining this to the guards, or if they have even thought about it?

Perhaps they could relax the rules about balloons by taking a sample of the gas before transitting through the gates?

They would however have to form another queue beside the people being strip searched for lighters. Extra training would also be required for the security, mainly in the form of self defence for when they search the passengers, and more to the point when they can defend themselves.

"Why not just confiscate people's lighters (and matches) ?? Or at a minimum, follow the rules completely, Nothing quite as flammable as a cigarette lighter! Makes it tough to set other flammable materials on fire with out a fire source.

How about patting everyone down before entrance to check for flammables?? Strip searches??"

You are having a laugh right?

Right! This was Thailandajarn's comments I am quoting.

[chrisinth]

Never argue with a man in a uniform and a whistle in his mouth,......

and a metal detector in his hand................

[HeavyDrinker]

Try the bars on Nana plaza...

Teachers can't afford to go there any more...

[welbymd]

I once witnessed ballons in Bangkok being filled from the exhaust of a step-through motor bike. A short piece of hose was attached to the tail pipe. Odd but true.

[OliverPludra]

I feel sorry with the girl, but it was clearly the stupid teacher's fault, not the security guards.

[Tanlic]

What's all the fuss about. Guards told no baloons then there's no baloons and it's not the guards job to guess what they are filled with.

Granted he had a young girl with him but the guard must do as the book says.

This guy was a complete moron who didn't want to listen to reason.

Takes about 10 seconds to deflate a baloon and you are on your merry way.

Aggresive clown doesn't deserve an apology he needs a good whack on the head with a baton..... he got one? Never hit him hard enough.

[bendix]

I think when the truth comes out there will be a lot of foolish looking people on this forum. Quite frankly the racism and ignorance I have read surrounding this incident is disgusting. The video only shows the aftermath of an incident in which the victim was violently assaulted, with a metal baton, by the BTS security guard. The CCTV surveilance footage, if released, confirms that the victim (whilst carrying balloons) was assaulted. There was no violence of any kind by the victim preceding this incident, just an argument about balloons, which is proved by the evidence on the CCTV. The victim has been offered compensation by the BTS and apologised to.

The victim is a well respected, educated professional, who made a mistake trying to take balloons onto the BTS, his reaction in the video is understandable considering what happened to him.

Those of you who have contributed to the racist and negative abuse of this person should be ashamed. What would your reaction be if you were smashed in the face with a baton during an argument about balloons, infront of your daughter?

You're right. It's a well-known common occurence that small Thai security guards regularly hit much larger white men for no reason at all, particularly at heavily populated places like Phrom Pong station.

It's happened to me at least a dozen times.

I just laugh it off.

[PoorSucker]

"The Pink Balloon Farang" formerly known as English teacher John Behan.

[bobl]

If rules must be enforced.

<deleted> is that in the bottom left corner? No shitting?

[chrisinth]

I think when the truth comes out there will be a lot of foolish looking people on this forum. Quite frankly the racism and ignorance I have read surrounding this incident is disgusting. The video only shows the aftermath of an incident in which the victim was violently assaulted, with a metal baton, by the BTS security guard. The CCTV surveilance footage, if released, confirms that the victim (whilst carrying balloons) was assaulted. There was no violence of any kind by the victim preceding this incident, just an argument about balloons, which is proved by the evidence on the CCTV. The victim has been offered compensation by the BTS and apologised to.

The victim is a well respected, educated professional, who made a mistake trying to take balloons onto the BTS, his reaction in the video is understandable considering what happened to him.

Those of you who have contributed to the racist and negative abuse of this person should be ashamed. What would your reaction be if you were smashed in the face with a baton during an argument about balloons, infront of your daughter?

Perhaps you should read again the article this thread is based on. If you were actually there, then you have a lot more insight than all here, and I would bow to your knowledge advantage. Lets just look at the article:

"According to Anat, Behan argued heatedly with the security guards, pushing one in the chest and kicking the chief of the station. In self-defence, a security guard hit the passenger with a scanner."

This differs slightly from your observations above that he did nothing wrong prior to the video. Please also note that the security guard has lost his job over this for trying to enforce the regulations.

His wife, Patcharamas Phusri made the following statement:

"She claimed the BTS security guards attacked her husband after they had already taken the balloons away."

Don't think that is correct, as everyone that has watched the video can clearly see him still carrying said balloons. Perhaps he took them back again? The above statement alone would for me anyway, negate any credability from her/his side.

If the guy is as you state " a well respected, educated professional" then he should know what to do and get his apologies in before it gets any worse.

[bendix]

I think when the truth comes out there will be a lot of foolish looking people on this forum. Quite frankly the racism and ignorance I have read surrounding this incident is disgusting. The video only shows the aftermath of an incident in which the victim was violently assaulted, with a metal baton, by the BTS security guard. The CCTV surveilance footage, if released, confirms that the victim (whilst carrying balloons) was assaulted. There was no violence of any kind by the victim preceding this incident, just an argument about balloons, which is proved by the evidence on the CCTV. The victim has been offered compensation by the BTS and apologised to.

The victim is a well respected, educated professional, who made a mistake trying to take balloons onto the BTS, his reaction in the video is understandable considering what happened to him.

Those of you who have contributed to the racist and negative abuse of this person should be ashamed. What would your reaction be if you were smashed in the face with a baton during an argument about balloons, infront of your daughter?

And you know this because you have seen the CCTV coverage? Prove it.

I know people who have seen the footage.

Really? And how did they get to see BTS security footage, and what is their interest in the matter? Methinks you (or them) speak with forked tongue.

[ballpoint]

Does anybody know what "Soda Fai" is? I interviewed a balloon vendor here in Chiang Rai. He had one of those gas generators that looked like a house stove. He said he uses "Soda Fai" to generate the gas he uses for balloons. I am not sure if that was calcium carbide.

Soda Fai is caustic soda, NaOH. It is commonly used as a method of producing Hydrogen for filling balloons. Contrary to many posts here, many floating balloons in Thailand are indeed filled with cheap Hydrogen, rather than expensive Helium. Holding one, or standing next to one in a BTS carriage, that exploded would not simply result in singed hair. The fact that the balloons in question here did not float would suggest they did not contain Hydrogen, nor Helium, but doesn't necessarily mean they contained air.

The debate over signs, or lack of them is a bit of a red herring. If a security guard says no you do not attempt to push past him. Why not send one of the Thai speaking members of the party, and his wife says her mother was with him, to the counter for clarification? The man with the balloons could wait in the "safe zone" until the response came back. In this case, as the BTS manager has testified, the answer would be no, and some alternative travel arrangement would need to be made, although even then I can't help thinking that the man in question wouldn't easily accept it.

One last point: I wonder just how many people here condemning the guard's actions would have applauded the airport security guard had he hit the superior who tried to push past him at Suwannaphum recently?

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Whilst I totally agree that it is a bad idea to lose your temper ANYWHERE, I am constantly amused by the so called Thai experts who keep quoting this so called number one rule specifically about Thailand.

Tell it to the Thais mate!

I regularly see Thais going ballistic at each other even when sober, and God help us when they're drunk! You're lucky if they don't kill each other!

Sure, but they have been learning all their lives in what situations it's safe to do so, and if they end up getting beaten senseless for doing so, everyone just shrugs "som nam na" and goes on about their business. Life is cheap here and everyone knows it.

I think people are missing the point here. The reason the guard accosted this Irishman was because the balloon were filled with acetylene gas instead of the more expensive Helium Gas. Acetylene gas is highly explosive but is very cheap to generate. Calcium carbine and a little H20 generated the gas. It is the balloon distributors that should be slammed!!! The

Totally irrelevant what's in a specific passenger's balloons.

Totally irrelevant what "the rules" actually are, whether they are posted or not, how consistently they are enforced etc.

One problem here is there are so many rules, and most of them make no sense and are not enforced. It is "normal" here to break or bend rules. Everybody does it.

Sure, but the other thing "everyone" does is cooperate with someone in a position of authority. That usually means obeying their instructions. It also may mean getting their cooperation to let you continue to break/bend the rules.

But you don't openly and aggressively confront them - that's just asking for trouble. This is why physical violence is so rare here, keeping your temper is a base condition for being considered a rational human being. As soon as you start raising your voice, much less pushing and shoving, you are acting like an out of control animal and are likely to be treated as such.

I'm not talking about principles or morality here, just practical reality. The fact that most security guards are just there for show doesn't mean all are.

Another example:

Most of you have probably noticed that Thais generally don't I eat or drink while walking in public or riding public transport; they tend to only eat while sitting down, and usually in locations designated for that function. This probably means they consider it rude to do so, while it's considered perfectly normal in the west (some hiso's may consider it low-class, but you have to admit it's as common as air.

If I were eating on a bus, and the fare collector told me not to do so, or otherwise gave me an order that I may or may not think is reasonable, I'd be stupid to do anything other than meekly apologize and follow her orders to the letter.

Back home it would be perfectly rational if a bit yobbo to argue or even refuse to accept that person's authority, because you feel safety in the rule-of-law environment there, that there's little they can do to force your obedience - worst case scenario they might be able to have you fined. If they physically attacked you it's quite likely you'd have their job or even be able to have them prosecuted or sue them for damages.

Here, you mess with the wrong ticket-taker and at the next stop she and the driver may well whistle over to their buddies, and you get dragged off the bus, beaten to a pulp and left for dead. Or maybe she happens to know where you live, her husband's a crim or cop (same difference), and something even worse happens to you, maybe weeks later and you have no idea how you came to have such "bad luck".

Anyone with the gumption to stand up to a farang and tell them they aren't allowed to do something is likely to be in a position of authority even if you don't recognize it. If you choose to blunder on and get into a confrontation with them you may not "deserve" whatever happens to you, but you certainly did bring it on yourself in practical terms.

If you want to enjoy your stay here, keep your nose clean, your head down and leave your abstract principles about the way you think the world "should be" behind - live in accordance to the way it actually is here, and if/when you're not sure of the situation, default on the side of acting as a guest in the home of a ruthless and very powerful mafioso.

Yes god forbid this purge on society be allowed to teach! After all he is well known for the transportation of illegal balloons and put himself in a situation where he was physically assaulted by a BTS guard who was clearly following BTS protocol which reads...

1. On attempting to stop a customer bringing a controlled item onto the BTS, club him repeatedly over the head with your scanner.

...

The only thing related to this that is giving ferang a bad name in Thailand are the procession of racist posts on here.

Security guards here are not - and cannot be - given discretion. They have to follow black and white rules. If someone disobeys their directives they cannot be allowed to simply continue on, and obviously while police could be relied upon back home as backup for private security, that isn't the case here (unless the company spent a **lot** of money).

I'm not saying whether a club to the head was justified or not, and we don't know the actual facts of what happened before the video started, but there is no doubt that private security guards in Thailand must use violence force if needed to enforce their directives. The fact that **after** he'd already been involved in a physical scuffle with security he was still continuing to barge ahead thinking he'd be allowed to board is a sign to me of either total stupidity or mental illness.

Both of these qualities should IMO disqualify him from being allowed to teach.

[F4UCorsair]

Not sure if people posting here have NO common sense, but:

* It is not important what type of gas is in the balloon

* It is not important that there were/are no signs prohibiting balloons on the BTS

* It is not important that he may have carried the balloons on the BTS earlier in the day

What is important is that the security person instructed him not to take the balloon/s on board, and he chose to ignore that instruction. When an attempt was made to prevent him doing so he became violent. The relative masses of the protagonists, 100+ Kgs versus 45 Kgs (estimated), left little choice of courses of action to the security person. I think he's damned lucky not to be more seriously injured.

I see the 'apology' by BTS management as a bit of face saving, something very important in Asia.

[newermonkey]

Which begs thr most obvious question, how can anyone be allowed to sell inflammable gas in balloons. Helium not hydrogen is the way forward.

Had a kids party where a few went bang. Wondered how helium could go bang and realised the resident balloon guy had a hydrogen canister next to the barbecue.

The bang is simply the balloon splitting open.

The balloon wouldn't have contained hydrogen!

No no please get your gasses right !- Helium, Hydrogen is too dangerous, remember the Hindenburg Zeppelin

Edited March 23, 2012 by newermonkey

[Jaykiss]

From the guards point of view I guess the guard was just trying to save his job; if he had been caught by cctv allowing the farang to carry balloons, he could have been fired for that. Alas, he got fired anyway. Poor guard. The one to be fired should have been the guard at surasak who was negligent towards his duty in allowing the farang to carry the balloons.

What could a taxi have cost the farang?? He would in that case not cause mental trauma to his own daughter!!

[Slip]

This man is a teacher, so that means he must be well educated, but a good education and common sense don't neccessary go together. I mention common sense because the guards probably could not speak English. In any country where there are Muslims around, you can't blame the security guards for being over protective. I have lived in Thailand for seven years, and I have never had a problem with any security guard, or policeman, and yes, I do drive.

As for notices in the BTS stations, I have read that you should give up your seats to children and monks, there is no way I would do that, these people are as capable of standing as I am, but I haven't seen any notices about balloons. This teacher should have realised that the security guards were only protecting the public. As for the voilence, only witnesses can decide.

"In any country where there are Muslims around, you can't blame the security guards for being over protective"

Now there's a nice piece of hate speech, well done!