Car Crash Politics: Laws Don't Touch Rich In Thailand

[webfact]

Car crash politics: Laws don't touch rich in Thailand

By Ploy Bunluesilp , NBC News

BANGKOK, Thailand – Shortly before dawn on Monday in an upscale area of Bangkok, a 27-year-old Thai man driving a Ferrari crashed into a policeman on a motorcycle. The driver dragged him more than 100 yards along the road before fleeing the scene. The policeman, 47-year-old Sgt. Maj. Wichien Glanprasert, was killed.

The furious reaction to the incident this week has shown one thing above all: most Thais have no faith in their justice system.

'I don’t believe in Thai justice'

The driver of the car was Vorayuth Yoovidhya, scion of one of the richest families in Thailand. His grandfather, Chaleo Yoovidhya, founded the Red Bull energy drink empire. Forbes magazine ranked the family as Thailand's fourth richest (not including the royal family) earlier this year with a net worth of $5.4 billion.

Thais know from long experience that the wealthy are rarely held accountable for their crimes.

Red Bull heir held over deadly hit-and-run in Ferrari

"As long as you are rich and powerful, you can get away with everything,” said 40-year-old Ubonwan Weeyanond. “I don’t believe in Thai justice, it’s only a privilege for the rich, not for poor people." [more...]

Full story: http://worldnews.nbc...ich-in-thailand

-- NBC News 2012-09-06

[jaltsc]

“I don’t believe in Thai justice, it’s only a privilege for the rich, not for poor people."

I believe you just defined "Thai Justice".

However, this is not exclusive to Thailand. In just about every country and society the rich and powerful are immune from many laws and follow different rules. In fact, they are the ones who create, interpret and enforce those laws. One must remember the "Golden Rule"...He who has the gold, makes the rules.

[chainarong]

Regardless of who or what you are, no one is above the law, and nobody drags a body 100 yards under a car and leaves the scene, however, like the rest of us on the side of justice, I wouldn't hold my breath on the out come.

[damo]

But amazingly the driver of the car will amazingly amaze everyone and walk free. Amazing. Perfect time to make reform apparent, but it won't. What ever happened to acts like this being a crime against the state. Who cares about compensation for the family, that should be determined by the courts in addition to sentencing.

Amazing how the Thai legal and political systems get about scraping the backs of it's hands along the ground.

[KireB]

Regardless of who or what you are, no one is above the law, and nobody drags a body 100 yards under a car and leaves the scene, however, like the rest of us on the side of justice, I wouldn't hold my breath on the out come.

Well I wish to agree but this is Thailand and maybe the red bull boy is going to sue the police officer's family for damaging his car!

[ramrod711]

Laws don't touch rich in Thailand

100%, absolutely, depressingly correct.

[trogers]

Come on guys...it's just another honest mistake!!! Such an excuse had been accepted by the highest court of the land over a decade ago.and is precedent.

[yooper2001]

Question. Has anyone ever seen a thai policeman given a speeding ticket to anyone? The only thing i ever see from the police is on thursday they will have a checkpoint to take money from motorbike drivers for wearing no helmet. This is money for them for the weekend.

[pitrevie]

As Lord Justice Matthew said almost a century ago, “In England justice is open to all, like the Ritz”. I think that about sums up the situation here.

[TheWalkingMan]

I remember once this Thai woman was angry at this Western guy and told me that he said, "As long as I have enough money, I can do anything in Thailand." I was surprised she got angry.

[EvilDrSomkid]

Question. Has anyone ever seen a thai policeman given a speeding ticket to anyone?

Yes, me. And it was legit.

[apetley]

Regardless of who or what you are, no one is above the law, and nobody drags a body 100 yards under a car and leaves the scene, however, like the rest of us on the side of justice, I wouldn't hold my breath on the out come.

Well I wish to agree but this is Thailand and maybe the red bull boy is going to sue the police officer's family for damaging his car!

Even a Red Bull lawyer might find it hard to argue that a police Tiger 200cc can reverse at 200 kph but TIT so miracles can happen.

[Kalbo]

I remember once this Thai woman was angry at this Western guy and told me that he said, "As long as I have enough money, I can do anything in Thailand." I was surprised she got angry.

I've been told exactly the same by many Thais too.

[HeavyDrinker]

Times are changing.

Now Thaksin has inadvertently gave the proles a voice, incidents like this are not only going "viral" in the Thai media but people actually want to see this lad do serious time and will not be happy if he walks.

15 years ago this wouldn't even have been public news.

[Kalbo]

Question. Has anyone ever seen a thai policeman given a speeding ticket to anyone? The only thing i ever see from the police is on thursday they will have a checkpoint to take money from motorbike drivers for wearing no helmet. This is money for them for the weekend.

About 5 years ago I was given a legitimate parking ticket. I kept (and still have) the receipt as I was so surprised.

[thaipod]

Nothing changes, it's a sad situation . Another case of who your family is and you can get away from most charges with a slap on the wrist

[pomchop]

“I don’t believe in Thai justice, it’s only a privilege for the rich, not for poor people."

I believe you just defined "Thai Justice".

However, this is not exclusive to Thailand. In just about every country and society the rich and powerful are immune from many laws and follow different rules. In fact, they are the ones who create, interpret and enforce those laws. One must remember the "Golden Rule"...He who has the gold, makes the rules.

You summed it all up quiet nicely....justice for the super wealthy is very very different from justice for average people. To my knowledge it is the same in every country on the planet. Some are better or worse than others but Thailand is just one more in a very long list of countries where if you are rich enough and connected enough there will always be some officials willing to "cut you a break".

[HeavyDrinker]

Nothing changes, it's a sad situation . Another case of who your family is and you can get away from most charges with a slap on the wrist

Not meaning to be rude but I don't think you've been here too long.

As I said 10-15 years ago this wouldn't even have made it past the crime scene unless it was in a hugely public area as in the case of the well known minister's offspring shooting coppers.

Compo would have been paid and the whole thing would have gone away.

[noitom]

It's Thai DNA to run from an accident. Now you take that DNA and cross it with a person raised with "superior" values and you get "premeditated murder' committed with impunity and the assurance that someone else can take the fall or it will just be evaporated." The decision to "drag" the possibly still alive policeman was an implicit decision and premeditation to "shake him loose" from the car at all costs and to scramble for the home fortress to concoct the alibi. The policeman on the motorcycle may have broken his neck and died near the time of impact but dragging his body dead or alive through three football fields of urban cement and asphalt would break the neck and do the job for sure.

On second thought maybe the average ordinary folks in Thailand run from accidents because the precedent was set by the rich, to whom the law doesn't apply. The law is for ordinaries among ordinaries. Not superiors "forced" on occasion to navigate in the filthy, stupid world of the ordinaries.

[toenail]

Forget the fancy car and that the young man is from a rich family...here is a human being without "values"... Ok, accidents happen. Did he stop after hitting the policeman on the motor bike? NO, he continued to drive carrying him on the windshield. He could have stopped to help him. A decent human would have done this.

Then there is this other low moral value of the family: The family then enlisted the help of local police official Lt. Col. Pannapon Nammuang to concoct a tale that somebody else – the family driver – had been at the wheel when the accident happened, according to Bangkok police. Pathetic.

I will never purchase Red Bull energy drink and encourage others to do the same.

[Valentine]

It's Thai DNA to run from an accident. Now you take that DNA and cross it with a person raised with "superior" values and you get "premeditated murder' committed with impunity and the assurance that someone else can take the fall or it will just be evaporated." The decision to "drag" the possibly still alive policeman was an implicit decision and premeditation to "shake him loose" from the car at all costs and to scramble for the home fortress to concoct the alibi. The policeman on the motorcycle may have broken his neck and died near the time of impact but dragging his body dead or alive through three football fields of urban cement and asphalt would break the neck and do the job for sure.

On second thought maybe the average ordinary folks in Thailand run from accidents because the precedent was set by the rich, to whom the law doesn't apply. The law is for ordinaries among ordinaries. Not superiors "forced" on occasion to navigate in the filthy, stupid world of the ordinaries.

Maybe the spin doctors are already in place as they now say it was the motorbike which was dragged along not the policeman who was supposedly killed instantly.

[chrisinth]

Question. Has anyone ever seen a thai policeman given a speeding ticket to anyone? The only thing i ever see from the police is on thursday they will have a checkpoint to take money from motorbike drivers for wearing no helmet. This is money for them for the weekend.

Answer to question, yes I have. As for the rest of your post, it gets a bit more complicated than that as the proportioned sharing system is in force..............

[KeyserSoze01]

Class warfare by any other name is the same, same, but different.

[Daffy D]

As Lord Justice Matthew said almost a century ago, “In England justice is open to all, like the Ritz”. I think that about sums up the situation here.

+1

Not only in England

[Soutpeel]

It's Thai DNA to run from an accident. Now you take that DNA and cross it with a person raised with "superior" values and you get "premeditated murder' committed with impunity and the assurance that someone else can take the fall or it will just be evaporated." The decision to "drag" the possibly still alive policeman was an implicit decision and premeditation to "shake him loose" from the car at all costs and to scramble for the home fortress to concoct the alibi. The policeman on the motorcycle may have broken his neck and died near the time of impact but dragging his body dead or alive through three football fields of urban cement and asphalt would break the neck and do the job for sure.

On second thought maybe the average ordinary folks in Thailand run from accidents because the precedent was set by the rich, to whom the law doesn't apply. The law is for ordinaries among ordinaries. Not superiors "forced" on occasion to navigate in the filthy, stupid world of the ordinaries.

Maybe the spin doctors are already in place as they now say it was the motorbike which was dragged along not the policeman who was supposedly killed instantly.

If he was hit at 200 kms/hr as has been suggested, then pretty sure he would be dead before he hit the pavement, so kind of irrelevant what/who was or wasnt dragged

[Curt1591]

Question. Has anyone ever seen a thai policeman given a speeding ticket to anyone? The only thing i ever see from the police is on thursday they will have a checkpoint to take money from motorbike drivers for wearing no helmet. This is money for them for the weekend.

Although I didn't see him writing anyone up, I did see a cop with a radar gun on the expressway.

I once got a ticket for using a Ratchada flyover on my bike. The SOB wouldn't take money. What a hassle! Had to ride to the station, pay the fine, then ride back to pick up my license.

[thrawn60]

Question. Has anyone ever seen a thai policeman given a speeding ticket to anyone? The only thing i ever see from the police is on thursday they will have a checkpoint to take money from motorbike drivers for wearing no helmet. This is money for them for the weekend.

I got a speeding ticket while driving to Korat. It was fully legal, the officer could show the measurement, and when I insisted that it was the speedo in the car that was wrong, he offered to drive past the speed trap again with me, to check if this was the case...

My bad luck was that it was not broke heheh

So yes, I have seen it, but only once in 8 years.

[noitom]

It's Thai DNA to run from an accident. Now you take that DNA and cross it with a person raised with "superior" values and you get "premeditated murder' committed with impunity and the assurance that someone else can take the fall or it will just be evaporated." The decision to "drag" the possibly still alive policeman was an implicit decision and premeditation to "shake him loose" from the car at all costs and to scramble for the home fortress to concoct the alibi. The policeman on the motorcycle may have broken his neck and died near the time of impact but dragging his body dead or alive through three football fields of urban cement and asphalt would break the neck and do the job for sure.

On second thought maybe the average ordinary folks in Thailand run from accidents because the precedent was set by the rich, to whom the law doesn't apply. The law is for ordinaries among ordinaries. Not superiors "forced" on occasion to navigate in the filthy, stupid world of the ordinaries.

Maybe the spin doctors are already in place as they now say it was the motorbike which was dragged along not the policeman who was supposedly killed instantly.

According to the original news report the motorcycle dropped off at Soi 49 and the policeman's body at Sukhumvit and Soi 53 where he turned for home.

[thrawn60]

Forget the fancy car and that the young man is from a rich family...here is a human being without "values"... Ok, accidents happen. Did he stop after hitting the policeman on the motor bike? NO, he continued to drive carrying him on the windshield. He could have stopped to help him. A decent human would have done this.

Then there is this other low moral value of the family: The family then enlisted the help of local police official Lt. Col. Pannapon Nammuang to concoct a tale that somebody else – the family driver – had been at the wheel when the accident happened, according to Bangkok police. Pathetic.

I will never purchase Red Bull energy drink and encourage others to do the same.

I think he did stop at some point. True that he didnt leave the car or call for help (Not confirmed I was not there) but speeding at 200km/t it takes some time to reach a standstill, but most likely in my understanding, he would have reached a full stop, realized that the officer was seriously injured, and continued home a few soi's down the street to call his "friends" up high to make sure he was safe.

Just my opinion, no real facts or anything like that.

[HeavyDrinker]

Guesswork and speculation about the accident itself have been done to death on other threads, as have speeding ticket tales.

This is a fascinating topic in it's own right as, in my opinion, it really has shown that the gap between rich and poor in Thailand is closing and "untouchable" status is becoming a thing of the past.

My own theory is that due to advances in technology (social media, mobile phones, the Internet and so on) news is no longer a controllable medium, therefore incidents of this nature are so much thrust in the public eye that the powers which used to be able to brush such things under the carpet can no longer do so.

Shame I have to go out on the sauce this aftie but seeing as the wife is in Ratchaburi with her sister and parents till Monday, it would be a crime not to do so, but such is life.....