Phuket Villagers Demand Pistol Whipping Police Officer Be Transferred

[Lite Beer]

Phuket villagers demand pistol whipping police officer be transferred

Phuket Gazette -

Phuket Provincial Police Commander Choti Chavalviwat confronted the angry crowd and ensured them that an investigation into the matter would be set in motion. Photo: Kritsada Mueanhawong

PHUKET: About 200 angry Phuket villagers Thursday night demanded that the Kamala police officer who allegedly pistol whipped a teenager in an angry mob be immediately transferred.

The boy was allegedly struck across the face by the officer as he joined other teenagers in beating an alleged bag snatcher, who had just been put under “citizen arrests”.

At about 9pm, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Choti Chavalviwat confronted the crowd and ensured them that an investigation into the matter would be set in motion. However, on Saturday morning Maj Gen Choti told the Phuket Gazette that the matter had already been settled.

“It was all a misunderstanding on Thursday night. Kamala villagers gathered at the police station because they believed that one of the officers had used excessive force when protecting the alleged bag snatchers from the angry mob of teenagers,” Gen Choti told the Gazette this morning.

Police were chasing down a pair of the snatchers that had fled from Patong to Kamala, when they were helped by a group of teenagers, who surrounded the thieves, he explained.

“However, the teenagers started to beat the thieves instead of just apprehending them. Police did their best to control the situation,” he said.

“There were no guns fired,” he added.

Gen Choti ensured the Gazette this morning that an understanding was reached between the teenagers’ parents and the police.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/Phuket-villagers-demand-pistol-whipping-police-officer-be-transferred-20059.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2013-01-26

[fiddlehead]

Kamala seems to be a town where the citizens actually do something about the crooked police and corruption on this island.

Good for them.

This is not the first time I've seen them do something about these kind of problems.

I'm liking this town and beach more and more.

[JetsetBkk]

Kamala seems to be a town where the citizens actually do something about the crooked police and corruption on this island.

Good for them.

This is not the first time I've seen them do something about these kind of problems.

I'm liking this town and beach more and more.

If you go to visit there, don't forget your travel prayer mat: http://www.islamicbo....com/a5842.html

[Soupdragon]

If you go to visit there, don't forget your travel prayer mat: http://www.islamicbo....com/a5842.html

Beach mats are better.

[A Member]

Kamala seems to be a town where the citizens actually do something about the crooked police and corruption on this island.

Good for them.

This is not the first time I've seen them do something about these kind of problems.

I'm liking this town and beach more and more.

The Provincial Police Commander seems quite happy that no guns were fired, what an attitude

[saroq]

People often jump to the conclusion that teenagers are angels who can do no wrong and that when conflict occurs between them and an adult it must be the adult's fault. I don't have much good to say about the Thai police force but it's understandable in a situation where agitated teens (who are low on impulse control) surround a suspect and start beating him that a cop may use excess force. It may not have been premeditated or a normal response but a instinct response to a tense and dangerous situation.

[NomadJoe]

Kamala seems to be a town where the citizens actually do something about the crooked police and corruption on this island.

Good for them.

This is not the first time I've seen them do something about these kind of problems.

I'm liking this town and beach more and more.

On the contrary. The recent news stories coming out of Kamala should concern you.This was not a case of police corruption, nor are the many other cases where villagers/tuk tuks protest etc. This was an officer doing his job to protect the life of a person or people having vigilante justice meted out to them on the street. Kamala is in the news a lot with these "villigars protest this or that". The police seem to have no control there. Remember this is where a 16 year old girl was recently married to a much older man that she had never met. They didn't even speak the same language.

The Provincial Police Commander seems quite happy that no guns were fired, what an attitude

Original reports stated that a gun was fired into the air. That appears to be false and likely why he made this comment.

[Thaddeus]

Original reports stated that a gun was fired into the air. That appears to be false and likely why he made this comment.

Or it could be a different incident.

[starkey_rich]

Kamala seems to be a town where the citizens actually do something about the crooked police and corruption on this island.

Good for them.

This is not the first time I've seen them do something about these kind of problems.

I'm liking this town and beach more and more.

Seems like a place where the animal pack mob rules to me.

[fiddlehead]

Kamala seems to be a town where the citizens actually do something about the crooked police and corruption on this island.

Good for them.

This is not the first time I've seen them do something about these kind of problems.

I'm liking this town and beach more and more.

On the contrary. The recent news stories coming out of Kamala should concern you.This was not a case of police corruption, nor are the many other cases where villagers/tuk tuks protest etc. This was an officer doing his job to protect the life of a person or people having vigilante justice meted out to them on the street. Kamala is in the news a lot with these "villigars protest this or that". The police seem to have no control there. Remember this is where a 16 year old girl was recently married to a much older man that she had never met. They didn't even speak the same language.

The Provincial Police Commander seems quite happy that no guns were fired, what an attitude

Original reports stated that a gun was fired into the air. That appears to be false and likely why he made this comment.

I agree that this was a tense situation apparently.

I wouldn't have wanted to be in that cops shoes and he may have done the correct thing.

My point is that most Thai people follow the "no confrontation" rule and bow to the police, whether corrupt or not.

In Kamala, the citizens sometimes object to bad policing and demand justice.

I agree this case may have been different.

Just pointing out that I sometimes like their style up there in this Muslim town.

[NomadJoe]

^ Fair enough. The "no confrontation" attitude is annoying.