Bangkok Police Explain Mistaken Identity

[Kilgore Trout]

So many cynical posts here, which is rather sad. Agreed the police are not as well as developed in investigation as in so called developed Countries and remember, this Guy "gave himself up". So with 5 witnesses saying it was him, what are the Police to believe and let's face it there have been many a false imprisonment in the UK, USA and in fact probably every developed Country. Maybe, just maybe, time for some to say, well done Police for getting the right man and giving this Guy compensation, also to admit the mistake in public. Well done Guys

Not sure if you know how to read or not;

Metropolitan Police deputy chief Pol MajGeneral Pisit Pisutsak said yesterday that though police had initially arrested the wrong man over robbery charges, they were not at fault because the five victims had identified cab driver Charin Chamket, 35, as the thief.

In the world I live in, admitting someone made a mistake, but you are not at fault is NOT admitting they made a mistake.

They are clearly not taking responsibility for their actions, luckily they have apologists like you guys to defend them.

The guy was held for 9 days, clearly the 5 didn't ID the guy in a line up; they just ID'd the car. Yeah, great police work.

And for those of you who say miscarriages of justice don't happen in the west, they do. However, victims have recourse. In a case like this the mistaken guy would be filing a lucrative law suit;

He has stated that:

Charin said that he wouldn’t sue the police beacuse he understood the circumstance and regraded this as his own bad luck.

I'm sure he does understand the circumstances here in Thailand

[DLock]

This could have ended very badly for this guy.

I'm glad that it didn't and he can take care of his family.

[Semper]

It doesn't say though how they had identified him, the identification may have simply been by giving the vehicle licence plate number and not an actual id parade where they pick him out,

If they only identified the plate, they should have jailed the cab.

I think the witnesses should be jailed for accusing the wrong man.

[mca]

Can you imagine sitting in the clink innocent as the day is long thinking " Ah it'll all be sorted out soon. The real culprit must have used false plates the same as mine or something" and then five bods pop up out of the woodwork pointing at you saying " Yeah that's him"

Dunno about you but my arsehol_e would pucker up quicker than a Pug dog after you've shot a dash of Jif lemon in his gob.

Edited July 19, 2012 by mca

[Bender]

The suspect had robbed 16 taxi passengers and even raped some of them.

And some people try to convince us, all time long, how much thailand is a safe place...

oh moment i forgot! its happen all over the world.

Edited July 19, 2012 by Bender

[OzMick]

What kind of idiots; after investigation and interviews w/witnesses etc couldn't figure out they nabbed the wrong guy? 9 days they couldn't figure this out?

In the USA thousands of wrongly convicted men have been sitting behind bars for crimes they did not commit for years. Simple DNA tests can confirm or deny their guilt.... but the courts and the police drag their feat, fight the tests and keep innocent men in jail. Why? Two reasons, they dont want to lose face or pay compensation. These are the same reasons that many posters claim Thailand is a backward country.

Nine days is not a long time at all. I would bet this guy would have volunteered to do 9 days for 20,000. That is a pretty good wage in Thailand.

I am not defending Thai police as a whole... but this seems to be a pretty honorable case of them admitting their mistakes and making restitution. Well done!

You overlook the fact that if the real criminal hadn't continued using the fake plate, he was looking at around 9 years. If proper line-up or 6-pack photo ID was used, do you think it likely 5 people would have wrongly identified hi m?

[HUAHIN62]

It's not only Thai police that got it wrong. In an article last week it was reported that 45,000 FBI cases will have to be reviewed due to potential evidence tampering. It's estimated that thousands of people could have been incorrectly jailed due to this.

[RigPig]

Where does it say anything about being identified by a car plate? If it was his cabbie ID on the dash in the car I could understand it, but of that's all it takes to fool, rob and rape 16 victims. Takes 9 days to work out they have the wrong guy after he turned himself in to clear his name. Then say it wasn't my fault the other guy had a fake ID on his dash to fool everyone. "here's 20,000 I'll get it off the next bloke" <deleted> !!!

This is despicable and if I was him I would be worried about "going missing" before the trial of any claim against the police too !! Cut your losses and GTFO.

This is absolute BS and anyone who sees this as the BIB doing their jobs is blind deaf dumb and may as well stay mute (the 3 monkeys).

[Pseudolus]

So; the real perp had copied this blokes Taxi number and used that. Witnessed noted the number and gave that to the cops who duly told the world he was guilty and waited for him to come forward. Which he did. They then slung him in jail for 9 days because he could not pay them the bribe bail money to get out. Then they arrested another guy and realised he wad actually the perp, so they released him with his reputation in tatters, lost job from the hotel, gave him 20k and told him to smile, take the money, and shut up (or else?) all on the basis that the victims read a number and reported that? They never identified him, they remembered a license number. Did the cops ever actually investigate if he was the perp or sit on their <deleted> hoping it would all go away? Did they have a line up where the victims could look at the man and have a chance to say "Nope, not him"? I doubt it.

So I fail to see how anyone here thinks this is an example of the cops getting better. If anything it is a huge spot light on their incompetency, corruption, laziness, and basic inability to be called "police".

I feel sorry for Charin - he's going to have to go to a god awful Amphur queuing system and change his name now just because of the incompetency of these fools.

[brianP]

Instead the man take a good lawer that would be much better then to take the lousy 20.000 baht. With a good lawer he can also stop his work as IT worker because he will get enough financially compensation to support his family. 9 days in prison for nothing? When this happens in other countries you become a millionaire. He is really stupid in this case. For sure he signed lots of papers not bringing the police to the court.

Dead wrong, He did the best Buddhist thing by forgiving and moving on. TIT ,this is Thailand , where outlandish lawsuits and everyone suing someone doesn't happen. That crap is what drove up insurance and made a many a lawyer rich where i came from..! I believe his noble deed will bring him good fortune and not drive up costs for courts and police!

[moe666]

If witnesses who had been robbed and/or raped identified Charin as the perp, I would have to believe that the identification was made with "police assistance", unless he and Thinnapat are twins.

Charin was railroaded, and if the real offender hadn't continued using the same fake plate, it's likely that he'd still be in pokey for the next decade. Well done RTP!

Eye witness accounts have been proven to be very unreliable.

[OzMick]

If witnesses who had been robbed and/or raped identified Charin as the perp, I would have to believe that the identification was made with "police assistance", unless he and Thinnapat are twins.

Charin was railroaded, and if the real offender hadn't continued using the same fake plate, it's likely that he'd still be in pokey for the next decade. Well done RTP!

Eye witness accounts have been proven to be very unreliable.

Especially when the police steer the witness testimony.

[PoodMaiDai]

The BIB are still boobs.

[noitom]

Too bad they can't zero in the repeater who has been on the loose all this time.

[JurgenG]

I watch an interview of the taxi driver this morning, a really nice guy. When asked why he doesn't sue the witnesses who accused him, he replied, "why ? Don't you think they suffered enough ? They got attacked, robbed ... Me, I just want my freedom, I get it, it's enough"

And for the police "The witnesses identified me, it's my bad luck that I look like the other guy, the police did its job, no blame"

A real nice guy ! A number of poster here should really learn from him ...

Regarding the police is definitively a case of rock and hard place. If they do nothing while people are beat up, robbed and raped, everybody is going to blame them. They arrest the poor guy based on the witnesses testimony. But they still went ahead with their investigation and eventually arrested the real culprit. They did their job and , as far as I'm concerned, a good job, even going the extra mile to apologize to the poor guy they have wrongly jailed. Tell me where else in the world that would happen ?

[Kilgore Trout]

Instead the man take a good lawer that would be much better then to take the lousy 20.000 baht. With a good lawer he can also stop his work as IT worker because he will get enough financially compensation to support his family. 9 days in prison for nothing? When this happens in other countries you become a millionaire. He is really stupid in this case. For sure he signed lots of papers not bringing the police to the court.

Dead wrong, He did the best Buddhist thing by forgiving and moving on. TIT ,this is Thailand , where outlandish lawsuits and everyone suing someone doesn't happen. That crap is what drove up insurance and made a many a lawyer rich where i came from..! I believe his noble deed will bring him good fortune and not drive up costs for courts and police!

I guess you are unfamiliar with Thailands slander and libel laws????

How many defamation law suits has Thaksin filed? Sonti? Why can't we name and shame in thailand?

Nice one, what ignorance

Edited July 20, 2012 by Kilgore Trout

[animatic]

If witnesses who had been robbed and/or raped identified Charin as the perp, I would have to believe that the identification was made with "police assistance", unless he and Thinnapat are twins.

Charin was railroaded, and if the real offender hadn't continued using the same fake plate, it's likely that he'd still be in pokey for the next decade. Well done RTP!

I think the perpetrator wore a mask, they just identified the cab's plate and the police assumed it was him.