Bangkok BTS Apologises For Guard's Clash With Irish Passenger

[phosphorescent]

Nobody told me that TV gave out a free high horse with each membership!

Edited March 23, 2012 by phosphorescent

[rezbin]

No, you must bring your own from home

Nobody told me that that TV gave out a free high horse with each membership!

[Awk]

To me the Irish guy is way out of order,all that commotion, & violence in front of his young daughter,over a few balloons .A breatherlyser reading would have been interesting.

This sort of loutish behavior may be acceptable in Ireland, but certainly not in Thailand.I am very surprised BTS apologised.

Bases on the actions taken by the BTS company, it would appear even they disagree with your "in depth analysis" of the situation....."very suprised".....it only takes someone with more than two brain cells between their ears to come to the realisation that the BTS have apologised because they have accepted the responsibility and "blame" for the conduct of the guard, and are currently undertaking damage control in an attempt to stop their ar*es being sued.

Unfortunately I suspect that's at least two neurons too many for some of the contributors to this thread.

At least we now seem to have finally passed the point where every page has one or more nitwit saying they only see an aggressive man already bleeding before ever being touched by anyone from BTS, "probably drunk too", even though it has been stated from the start, and countless times after that, that the witness filming this only started filming after she noticed the guy being, apparently unprovoked, severely smacked over the head with something hard.

Why people here, even after BTS have publicly admitted their personnel were, to a larger or smaller degree, at fault,

continue to berate the Irishman would higher up in the barrel look puzzling.

Anyone should realize that BTS would not admit any guilt whatsoever without consulting their lawyers, who in turn would no doubt tell them that making any sort of press release about reprimanding or sacking their staff is a definite no-go. That is, unless CCTV footage or other reliable sources, documenting what happened prior to the film clip made public, made it very clear that BTS had little to go on and that their staff were undoubtedly the party at fault.

My respect to the woman, Thai apparently, who had the intelligence to film the latter part of the incident, and to BTS, who

as far as I understand, has quickly moved or sacked the out of control guard and are reprimanding the others. Hopefully

they will compensate the victims appropriately too.

Good luck to the Irishman and his daughter, with hope that the injuries are not lasting.

Edited March 23, 2012 by Awk

[blackthorn2005]

It's all a lot of hot air!

[Payboy]

My respect to the woman, Thai apparently, who had the intelligence to film the latter part of the incident,

Surely BTS would be seeking to sue her for using a camera against their rules.

Edited March 23, 2012 by Payboy

[p_brownstone]

even though it has been stated from the start, and countless times after that, that the witness filming this only started filming after she noticed the guy being, apparently unprovoked, severely smacked over the head with something hard.

That has never been "stated", not even implied, and in fact the person who took the Video has, to my knowledge, not yet even been traced.

He / She almost certainly started taking the Video once she saw this lumpen Farang moron abusing BTS Security Staff who were simply trying to obey their instructions not to allow Balloons onto the BTS System.

Patrick

[sparebox2]

The balloons had to have been filled with helium, which is an inert gas.

The balloons were filled with air. At 0:54 in the video the balloons are released and fall to the ground...no helium, no hydrogen, plain atmospheric air!

If ballon fall, it could mean the ballon is filled with LPG. Liquidfied Petroleum Gas, or cooking gas.

[WhizBang]

one could refer to the learned gentleman as a potato.

Now you are just insulting potatoes. Will it never end?

[frimu]

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.

Just read an article, that helium becomes more and more expensive, because it's a rare gas and difficult to produce. I guess, that is the answer.

[Soutpeel]

even though it has been stated from the start, and countless times after that, that the witness filming this only started filming after she noticed the guy being, apparently unprovoked, severely smacked over the head with something hard.

That has never been "stated", not even implied, and in fact the person who took the Video has, to my knowledge, not yet even been traced.

He / She almost certainly started taking the Video once she saw this lumpen Farang moron abusing BTS Security Staff who were simply trying to obey their instructions not to allow Balloons onto the BTS System.

Patrick

So you were there and you know this for a fact ?....you have no idea why the person concerned started taking the footage

[333]

even though it has been stated from the start, and countless times after that, that the witness filming this only started filming after she noticed the guy being, apparently unprovoked, severely smacked over the head with something hard.

That has never been "stated", not even implied, and in fact the person who took the Video has, to my knowledge, not yet even been traced.

He / She almost certainly started taking the Video once she saw this lumpen Farang moron abusing BTS Security Staff who were simply trying to obey their instructions not to allow Balloons onto the BTS System.

Patrick

medication time?

[sparebox2]

Step back for a minute. What would be your reaction if standing in the subway car with you was a man with volatile explosives? Would you be concerned? Would you wonder how such a man got on the subway? Would you consider the man to be an ignorant or selfish imbecile to be walking about with explosives that could easily detonate causing serious injuries to innocent bystanders?

The fact of the matter is that this Irishman wasn't thinking about the safety of others and was willing to bring what was most likely hydrogen filled ballons into a small space filled with people. Some of you would have another view had the balloons exploded in the subway car burning and disfiguring people.

Worst if it is a LPG filled balloon. As LPG is heavier than air, it sinks to the ground as it burn all your underwear.

[BookMan]

How about you do it first and report back. Thanks, GK.

There is zero evidence of the evil or antisocial intent you suggest. It appears he merely wants to take the balloons and his daughter onto the train. Is he now a terrorist and vicious criminal who should be extradited and banned from teaching forever, as some have said? Where is there a shred of evidence for that?

To be fair...All us TV members should see a video of him teaching in situ, then vote on him being banned from teaching forever. ;whistling:

[Soutpeel]

even though it has been stated from the start, and countless times after that, that the witness filming this only started filming after she noticed the guy being, apparently unprovoked, severely smacked over the head with something hard.

That has never been "stated", not even implied, and in fact the person who took the Video has, to my knowledge, not yet even been traced.

He / She almost certainly started taking the Video once she saw this lumpen Farang moron abusing BTS Security Staff who were simply trying to obey their instructions not to allow Balloons onto the BTS System.

Patrick

medication time?

along with some electro-shock threapy me thinks

[RedNIvar]

This man is a teacher, so that means he must be well educated,

You haven't met many English teachers in Thailand, have you possum?

Try the bars on Nana plaza...

I think you mean "Try the bars in Nana plaza...". Submaniac, I think to need to hang out with more teachers.

[BookMan]

I'm not surprised there are so many TV 'balloon fillage' experts. I've often thought many posters are full of hot air.

[Soutpeel]

Step back for a minute. What would be your reaction if standing in the subway car with you was a man with volatile explosives? Would you be concerned? Would you wonder how such a man got on the subway? Would you consider the man to be an ignorant or selfish imbecile to be walking about with explosives that could easily detonate causing serious injuries to innocent bystanders?

The fact of the matter is that this Irishman wasn't thinking about the safety of others and was willing to bring what was most likely hydrogen filled ballons into a small space filled with people. Some of you would have another view had the balloons exploded in the subway car burning and disfiguring people.

Worst if it is a LPG filled balloon. As LPG is heavier than air, it sinks to the ground as it burn all your underwear.

Mate dont encourage him,

his next suggestion will be the balloon contained particles of plutonium and the guys intention was to set off a dirty bomb

[rezbin]

You may need to read from more than TV to get the whole story, however it has been stated in the thai news (and related thai websites such as Sanook), not to mention in the OP (and the news articles leading up to it) on how the confrontation began. The lady never started filming until after the initial beat down of the Irish man, and that is why he is already beading at the beginning of the video.

even though it has been stated from the start, and countless times after that, that the witness filming this only started filming after she noticed the guy being, apparently unprovoked, severely smacked over the head with something hard.

That has never been "stated", not even implied, and in fact the person who took the Video has, to my knowledge, not yet even been traced.

He / She almost certainly started taking the Video once she saw this lumpen Farang moron abusing BTS Security Staff who were simply trying to obey their instructions not to allow Balloons onto the BTS System.

Patrick

[Soutpeel]

This man is a teacher, so that means he must be well educated,

You haven't met many English teachers in Thailand, have you possum?

Try the bars on Nana plaza...

I think you mean "Try the bars in Nana plaza...". Submaniac, I think to need to hang out with more teachers.

What time does your class start tomorrow ?

[sirchai]

Well, you don't have to be an experienced cop to imagine what has happened. I'd have said that two Mormons were trying to attack the security guards with bibles.

But after reading the post and watching the movie made by their friend, I've read that the two guys were teachers?

This guy was obviously bleeding before and his behavior looks like he'd drank a lot. Understandable after his daughter's graduation from Kindergarten....

Typical misbehavior for drunk Thai teachers, but okay if consumed alcohol was at least "Regency" or "Black Label."

You can also see that his friend had to hold him as he wanted to beat the shit out of the security freak.

Roughly said, I do believe that "teachers" -at least those from a country near Europe- should be much more calm when living and working in an ASEAN member country.

What would happen to a Thai if he/she'd do the same in an Irish coffee bar?..................

Edited March 23, 2012 by sirchai

[BigJohnnyBKK]

I susepct the vast majority of Thai Hi-so's, senior military/customs/ police/immigration/goverment ministers would disagree with this statement

Actually they would 100% agree wrt farang. The difference here is that hi-so and otherwise powerful Thais **are** exempt in their culture of impunity - the fundamental problem was this guy acting as if he qualified for the same treatment.

But decent Thais are at least almost always polite, soft-spoken and not directly confrontational. Note of course 99% of truly hi-so Thais wouldn't set foot on any public transport, nor anyplace where they might be treated as mere mortals. But if one was told by a security guard that they couldn't bring their balloons along, odds are pretty good they wouldn't raise their voice arguing the point!

Normal Thais default to treating farang as if we are fairly high up the scale, at least at a surface level. I'm sure many of us have noticed that once they figure out where we really stand, they aren't quite so deferential anymore, to the point that some of us are on intimate terms with phrases like farang kee nok 8-)

[djayz]

To me the Irish guy is way out of order,all that commotion, & violence in front of his young daughter,over a few balloons .A breatherlyser reading would have been interesting.

This sort of loutish behavior may be acceptable in Ireland, but certainly not in Thailand.I am very surprised BTS apologised.

This behaviour isn't acceptable in Ireland either...

[BigJohnnyBKK]

so you find it very very difficult to imagine one scenario, but can all too easily imagine another one?

Exactly - I find it very very hard to imagine a farang with his family being hit in the head as a result of calmly discussing the fact that he's been refused entry to the BTS.

After viewing the video, I can observe that he is attempting to physically push himself through against the objections of several security staff.

the basis for my statement is that i know the people involved, and i know what happened.

Then can you explain why he's continued trying to enter the system **after** he's been struck in the head in the initial round of "discussions"?

Was the blow so hard that his judgement was affected?

[333]

even though it has been stated from the start, and countless times after that, that the witness filming this only started filming after she noticed the guy being, apparently unprovoked, severely smacked over the head with something hard.

That has never been "stated", not even implied, and in fact the person who took the Video has, to my knowledge, not yet even been traced.

He / She almost certainly started taking the Video once she saw this lumpen Farang moron abusing BTS Security Staff who were simply trying to obey their instructions not to allow Balloons onto the BTS System.

Patrick

here is the link to the site that originally aired the video.

www.andrew-drummond.com/view-story.php?sid=527

this contains the eyewitness account of the woman who filmed it. Also on the homepage is an interview with the victim.

It should help some of you ignorant keyboard warriors humanise the guy.

[sirchai]

It seems to me that this could be stuff for a second "Bangkok Dangerous" movie. Part one wasn't boring enough frankly said

Edited March 23, 2012 by sirchai

[khunron13]

even though it has been stated from the start, and countless times after that, that the witness filming this only started filming after she noticed the guy being, apparently unprovoked, severely smacked over the head with something hard.

That has never been "stated", not even implied, and in fact the person who took the Video has, to my knowledge, not yet even been traced.

He / She almost certainly started taking the Video once she saw this lumpen Farang moron abusing BTS Security Staff who were simply trying to obey their instructions not to allow Balloons onto the BTS System.

Patrick

Ummm...directly from the Andrew Drummond website where this was initially posted on Sunday. Still wondering why it took 4 days for it to make the local papers!

"Gee Gee added: “I took a video of the last couple of minutes because I was so surprised at the behaviour of the guard."

Edited March 23, 2012 by khunron13

[WhizBang]

People... watch the youtube video.. you will realize these are not hydrogen, or helium balloons. They are your run of the mill, air filled balloons. They don't float when dropped or thrown (as shown in the video).

Floating or dropping is somewhat irrelevant. Even if filled with hydrogen, the balloons could still fall if the combined weight of the actual balloon plus the weight of the shaft attached weighed MORE than the volumn of air displaced.

Basic physics guys. Not even rocket science. So the falling (or not) of the balloons does not offer proof of what they were filled with.

[BookMan]

This is an interview with the Irish guy.. there is an English part a few minutes into it.

http://translate.goo...G316mOgLxLXjBiw

Edited March 23, 2012 by BookMan

[chooka]

"7-year-old daughter as graduation presents"

That's nuts ! a 7 year old GRADUATING tell me it ain't so! what was it Bachelor's degree or maybe a professorship!!!!

A 7 yr old graduating from kindergarden?? Was she kept back a few years as you normally move into primary school from kinder at age 5.

[ALFREDO]

I watched the video.

Guards try to stop the guy - it was obvious he was trying to do something he should not even without language.

You can clearly see the Irish guy kick a guard in the chest as BTS report and being violent.

How strong should guards be to stop what they are taught could endanger lives of others? I hope they are just as strong when it could be a genuine terrorist next time.

I am 100% with the guards.

The Irishman was in breach of rules then violent. Gives the rest of us a bad name. They should deport him IMHO.

There is another CCTV footage which should show what happened before your mentioned clip,in which the Irish was hurt and bloodies. I saw him on TV beautiful yellow, green and blue eye! And blooded on the head and leg. First all Videos looking than deciding!