Grenade-kicking Thai Policeman in stable condition

[h90]

I am sure there will be some that will criticize the police officers actions by lifting his shield to kick the grenade away, but the shield alone would not have stopped all the blast.

For me, K. Teeradet Ui-Charoen acted instinctively and bravely in the face of the danger that was before him, and should rightly be called a hero.

Kick the grenade with the bottom of the shield. Or even if the shield doesn't hold it would take most of the power from the grenade which was apparently not very strong.

But as you tell a decision is to be made in a fraction of a second......

Hero? He tried to protect himself from a grenade and got hurt. This is an unfortune tragedy, but nothing heroic.

[SICHONSTEVE]

It's obvious that many posters here watch Hollywood movies. We can talk movies, or we can talk reality. In reality this man actually endangered his own man. The rule is to stay low and do not break the ranks. He did the opposite and actually increased the number of casualties. I don't doubt he had the best intentions. However he acted recklessly and exposed his colleagues to shrapnel by breaking the ranks. In reality he is actually responsible for higher number of casualties. Brave act - yes, hero - no. Back to your Hollywood movies.

It's obvious you never spent 1 day in the military. Armchair QB.

I have, and more than 1 day - 10 years. That cop made the right decision - other than falling onto the grenade. The shields would have stopped nothing and it was too close for everyone to get up and jump back 3 meters. People were going to get hurt no matter what -

pffft! what am I saying?!?! The grenade was a peaceful one cause we all know the protesters are all peaceful.

Never mind.

If he had left it there then it probably wouldn't have gone off.

Fall on it? You have been watching too many American war films my friend!!

They could easily have jumped back 3 metres as that grenade was doing nothing until he set it off by kicking it away - If Thaksin had not loaded the hierarchy with his relations and police friends then they might have received proper training from real police!!

He is not a hero in my book, just a poorly trained policeman, that's all.

If you rub both of your brain cells together, will they start working?

Do I really have to explain what a grenade is to you or are you just trolling?

PS - Films got it right. If someone falls on the grenade, it helps contain and minimize the damage to the immediate area. That's what grenade range NCOs are instructed to do in the event of a miss-hap (with their Kevlar vests on). But you wouldn't know cause you never had the nards to sign up to serve.

I seem to remember seeing somewhere that they were deemed unusual or modified. If it had a fuse (5 or 7 second) why did it explode at the immediate time he kicked it and just how long had it been laying there dormant? Seems that it had a trigger on it which was activated upon something impacting the grenade as it certainly wasn't a fuse that set it off.

OK then, why didn't he smother it with his body (with his Kevlar vest on) if that was what he should have done.

I would have warned the others and dived backwards out of the way - everything would have been alright then!!

Edited February 20, 2014 by SICHONSTEVE

[SICHONSTEVE]

I am sure there will be some that will criticize the police officers actions by lifting his shield to kick the grenade away, but the shield alone would not have stopped all the blast.

For me, K. Teeradet Ui-Charoen acted instinctively and bravely in the face of the danger that was before him, and should rightly be called a hero.

Kick the grenade with the bottom of the shield. Or even if the shield doesn't hold it would take most of the power from the grenade which was apparently not very strong.

But as you tell a decision is to be made in a fraction of a second......

Hero? He tried to protect himself from a grenade and got hurt. This is an unfortune tragedy, but nothing heroic.

I think that I would downgrade it to an accident rather than tragedy as no one died. One thing for certain, this heroism thing is a load of rubbish and is undeserving!!

[Familyonthemove]

If you rub both of your brain cells together, will they start working?

Do I really have to explain what a grenade is to you or are you just trolling?

PS - Films got it right. If someone falls on the grenade, it helps contain and minimize the damage to the immediate area. That's what grenade range NCOs are instructed to do in the event of a miss-hap (with their Kevlar vests on). But you wouldn't know cause you never had the nards to sign up to serve.

I seem to remember seeing somewhere that they were deemed unusual or modified. If it had a fuse (5 or 7 second) why did it explode at the immediate time he kicked it and just how long had it been laying there dormant? Seems that it had a trigger on it which was activated upon something impacting the grenade as it certainly wasn't a fuse that set it off.

OK then, why didn't he smother it with his body (with his Kevlar vest on) if that was what he should have done.

I would have warned the others and dived backwards out of the way - everything would have been alright then!!

OMG. Really? You are going to sit at your laptop and analyze the actions that this brave soul took after the 0.5 seconds he had to decide what to do?

There was another thread where a poster was regretting getting involved when a taxi driver threatened a woman and child in the street. Hero's are born, not trained - they act quickly to protect others and not always in the best way when subjected to 20:20 hind sight (or should that be 'sitting on your arse sight')

[Local Drunk]

I am sure there will be some that will criticize the police officers actions by lifting his shield to kick the grenade away, but the shield alone would not have stopped all the blast.

For me, K. Teeradet Ui-Charoen acted instinctively and bravely in the face of the danger that was before him, and should rightly be called a hero.

Kick the grenade with the bottom of the shield. Or even if the shield doesn't hold it would take most of the power from the grenade which was apparently not very strong.

But as you tell a decision is to be made in a fraction of a second......

Hero? He tried to protect himself from a grenade and got hurt. This is an unfortune tragedy, but nothing heroic.

I tend to agree with you h90... He should have kicked it with his shield... he lost precious seconds trying to put his foot to it, and in the process breaks the wall of shields that protects his mates. But perhaps it was more a decision of bravery rather than training. I don't really want to be too critical on this one.

Glad he survived it.

Edited February 20, 2014 by Local Drunk

[SICHONSTEVE]

Look,

There is clearly a few folks here who have NEVER seen nor thrown a fragmentation grenade (what it is REALLY called in the US military) - it is CLEARLY this type of grenade.

ANYONE who has served, even cooks, know better - those who claim otherwise probably cannot even tell you what a DD214 is (until they google it). White stripe - yellow stripe? Trick from the sunlight? Colorblindness? IRRELEVANT! i could paint a grenade to look like a tennis ball - it would do NOTHING to dampen or enhance the effects!

It is true there is a 5 second fuse on frag grenades (standard). But when 20 guys are huddled behind shields, in a chaotic area - they are lucky 1 cop spotted it!

Again, don't believe the idiots in this thread who bad mouth the cop and his efforts to try to kick away the grenade. They clearly have played too much counterstrike and never served their country - don't confuse their opinion as fact.

Falling on a grenade refers to the deliberate act of using one's body to cover a live time-fused hand grenade, absorbing the explosion and fragmentation in an effort to save the lives of others nearby. Since this is almost universally fatal, it is considered an especially conspicuous and selfless act of individual sacrifice in wartime; in United States military history, more citations for the Medal of Honor have been awarded for falling on grenades to save comrades than any other single act.

I think that his family will be grateful that you weren't training him in how to deal with grenades when they land at your feet Mr I'm an expert on this!!!.

[Robby nz]

What really pisses me off is to see the red idiot posters trying to make some sort of political capital out of this mans bravery.

He did on the spur of the moment what he thought was best to help save his friends and himself.

He has a long slow and painful road to recovery and I for one hope he recovers and gets full use of his legs.

I also hope he is not abandoned by authority after the headlines die down, as sometimes happens.

Are you for real? Your guy Suthep has a militia that shot a policeman in the head and threw a grenade at this man.

And what pisses you off is a few commenters condemning your favorite warlord?

So one of the worst offenders decides to have a go at me.

You know nothing about who threw the grenade or who shot who and neither do I but I don't try to make up BS as you do.

My favorite warlord ? Another piece crap, but I will say that if there was a choice between him and your boss Thaksin Suthep would be by far the better choice.

Really pathetic, try taking look at your self and see what you are defending, and still posting the same hate, give it up and try to get real life for yourself.

[TexasRanger]

I have the utmost respect for people in armed and police forces who are paid to stand up to violence. But most of us who have done so consider it a job. Was the act heroic? Not sure, I think it was a split second decision, with constant correct repeated training and drills I am sure he would've acted differently, sadly he is probably not as well trained as he should be. For what it's worth if people are being shot and having grenades thrown at them I would expect the military to be coming in to deal with it the hard way, but my reservations about inadequate training would still stand.

[maxme]

I am sure there will be some that will criticize the police officers actions by lifting his shield to kick the grenade away, but the shield alone would not have stopped all the blast.

For me, K. Teeradet Ui-Charoen acted instinctively and bravely in the face of the danger that was before him, and should rightly be called a hero.

Kick the grenade with the bottom of the shield. Or even if the shield doesn't hold it would take most of the power from the grenade which was apparently not very strong.

But as you tell a decision is to be made in a fraction of a second......

Hero? He tried to protect himself from a grenade and got hurt. This is an unfortune tragedy, but nothing heroic.

I think that I would downgrade it to an accident rather than tragedy as no one died. One thing for certain, this heroism thing is a load of rubbish and is undeserving!!

Yeah I believe you and your NST buddies surely would have done something more heroic than this poor schmuck. Steve do you have military training because I want to hear a viable option to what you think he should have done.

PS.: It's because all cops are red and on Thaksin's payroll, isn't it?

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Edited February 20, 2014 by maxme

[seajae]

Look,

There is clearly a few folks here who have NEVER seen nor thrown a fragmentation grenade (what it is REALLY called in the US military) - it is CLEARLY this type of grenade.

ANYONE who has served, even cooks, know better - those who claim otherwise probably cannot even tell you what a DD214 is (until they google it). White stripe - yellow stripe? Trick from the sunlight? Colorblindness? IRRELEVANT! i could paint a grenade to look like a tennis ball - it would do NOTHING to dampen or enhance the effects!

It is true there is a 5 second fuse on frag grenades (standard). But when 20 guys are huddled behind shields, in a chaotic area - they are lucky 1 cop spotted it!

Again, don't believe the idiots in this thread who bad mouth the cop and his efforts to try to kick away the grenade. They clearly have played too much counterstrike and never served their country - don't confuse their opinion as fact.

sorry but you are so far from the truth it is not funny, as I stated previously look at the white marking, this means it is a PRACTICE/UNFILLED grenade, not a frag grenade, any army trained person would be aware of this, the fact you do not even understand what the colour codes means or are for shows us all that you have never been trained with any explosive/live ammo in the forces as it is all colour coded so every man knows what they are handling, every single piece. You are simply googling crap and repeating it, you are definitely part of those few folks.

[h90]

I am sure there will be some that will criticize the police officers actions by lifting his shield to kick the grenade away, but the shield alone would not have stopped all the blast.

For me, K. Teeradet Ui-Charoen acted instinctively and bravely in the face of the danger that was before him, and should rightly be called a hero.

Kick the grenade with the bottom of the shield. Or even if the shield doesn't hold it would take most of the power from the grenade which was apparently not very strong.

But as you tell a decision is to be made in a fraction of a second......

Hero? He tried to protect himself from a grenade and got hurt. This is an unfortune tragedy, but nothing heroic.

I think that I would downgrade it to an accident rather than tragedy as no one died. One thing for certain, this heroism thing is a load of rubbish and is undeserving!!

Having a healthy foot shot into parts is a tragedy......

[SICHONSTEVE]

I am sure there will be some that will criticize the police officers actions by lifting his shield to kick the grenade away, but the shield alone would not have stopped all the blast.

For me, K. Teeradet Ui-Charoen acted instinctively and bravely in the face of the danger that was before him, and should rightly be called a hero.

Kick the grenade with the bottom of the shield. Or even if the shield doesn't hold it would take most of the power from the grenade which was apparently not very strong.

But as you tell a decision is to be made in a fraction of a second......

Hero? He tried to protect himself from a grenade and got hurt. This is an unfortune tragedy, but nothing heroic.

I think that I would downgrade it to an accident rather than tragedy as no one died. One thing for certain, this heroism thing is a load of rubbish and is undeserving!!

Yeah I believe you and your NST buddies surely would have done something more heroic than this poor schmuck. Steve do you have military training because I want to hear a viable option to what you think he should have done.

PS.: It's because all cops are red and on Thaksin's payroll, isn't it?

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

I have already stated what he should have done (in my opinion) and falling on it or kicking it away are none of my options.

[newcomer71]

Now being severely injured by a grenade BEEN THROWN at you became an accident...

Amazing TV posters.

[Local Drunk]

Look,

There is clearly a few folks here who have NEVER seen nor thrown a fragmentation grenade (what it is REALLY called in the US military) - it is CLEARLY this type of grenade.

ANYONE who has served, even cooks, know better - those who claim otherwise probably cannot even tell you what a DD214 is (until they google it). White stripe - yellow stripe? Trick from the sunlight? Colorblindness? IRRELEVANT! i could paint a grenade to look like a tennis ball - it would do NOTHING to dampen or enhance the effects!

It is true there is a 5 second fuse on frag grenades (standard). But when 20 guys are huddled behind shields, in a chaotic area - they are lucky 1 cop spotted it!

Again, don't believe the idiots in this thread who bad mouth the cop and his efforts to try to kick away the grenade. They clearly have played too much counterstrike and never served their country - don't confuse their opinion as fact.

Falling on a grenade refers to the deliberate act of using one's body to cover a live time-fused hand grenade, absorbing the explosion and fragmentation in an effort to save the lives of others nearby. Since this is almost universally fatal, it is considered an especially conspicuous and selfless act of individual sacrifice in wartime; in United States military history, more citations for the Medal of Honor have been awarded for falling on grenades to save comrades than any other single act.

I think that his family will be grateful that you weren't training him in how to deal with grenades when they land at your feet Mr I'm an expert on this!!!.

You can't fault him for his courage. I'd jump in front of a car without a thought to save a kid, and in the end I'd be dead. Stupid on my part perhaps, but the kid survives. It's just one of those things isn't it.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Now being severely injured by a grenade BEEN THROWN at you became an accident...

Amazing TV posters.

I was referring more to the severity of the injuries sustained rather than what happened - I accept, accident was probably not the right word to have used. Lets leave it as - it is not a tragedy IMO.

[nonthaburial]

It's obvious that many posters here watch Hollywood movies. We can talk movies, or we can talk reality. In reality this man actually endangered his own man. The rule is to stay low and do not break the ranks. He did the opposite and actually increased the number of casualties. I don't doubt he had the best intentions. However he acted recklessly and exposed his colleagues to shrapnel by breaking the ranks. In reality he is actually responsible for higher number of casualties. Brave act - yes, hero - no. Back to your Hollywood movies.

It's obvious you never spent 1 day in the military. Armchair QB.

I have, and more than 1 day - 10 years. That cop made the right decision - other than falling onto the grenade. The shields would have stopped nothing and it was too close for everyone to get up and jump back 3 meters. People were going to get hurt no matter what -

pffft! what am I saying?!?! The grenade was a peaceful one cause we all know the protesters are all peaceful.

Never mind.

If he had left it there then it probably wouldn't have gone off.

Fall on it? You have been watching too many American war films my friend!!

They could easily have jumped back 3 metres as that grenade was doing nothing until he set it off by kicking it away - If Thaksin had not loaded the hierarchy with his relations and police friends then they might have received proper training from real police!!

He is not a hero in my book, just a poorly trained policeman, that's all.

So now you are suggesting the grenade was booby trapped ! Laughable, as already stated on here, a grenade has a timer of seconds before detonating after the pin is removed and the grenade becomes live.

Kindly complete your day one of military training before getting too advanced with your worthless theories.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Look,

There is clearly a few folks here who have NEVER seen nor thrown a fragmentation grenade (what it is REALLY called in the US military) - it is CLEARLY this type of grenade.

ANYONE who has served, even cooks, know better - those who claim otherwise probably cannot even tell you what a DD214 is (until they google it). White stripe - yellow stripe? Trick from the sunlight? Colorblindness? IRRELEVANT! i could paint a grenade to look like a tennis ball - it would do NOTHING to dampen or enhance the effects!

It is true there is a 5 second fuse on frag grenades (standard). But when 20 guys are huddled behind shields, in a chaotic area - they are lucky 1 cop spotted it!

Again, don't believe the idiots in this thread who bad mouth the cop and his efforts to try to kick away the grenade. They clearly have played too much counterstrike and never served their country - don't confuse their opinion as fact.

Falling on a grenade refers to the deliberate act of using one's body to cover a live time-fused hand grenade, absorbing the explosion and fragmentation in an effort to save the lives of others nearby. Since this is almost universally fatal, it is considered an especially conspicuous and selfless act of individual sacrifice in wartime; in United States military history, more citations for the Medal of Honor have been awarded for falling on grenades to save comrades than any other single act.

I think that his family will be grateful that you weren't training him in how to deal with grenades when they land at your feet Mr I'm an expert on this!!!.

You can't fault him for his courage. I'd jump in front of a car without a thought to save a kid, and in the end I'd be dead. Stupid on my part perhaps, but the kid survives. It's just one of those things isn't it.

The slight difference is, that I simply do not accept the courage bit. All I think happened was when he saw the grenade he probably thought "danger" and kicked it away without even thinking. This is a rational (even though it turned out to be the wrong one) response when faced with immediate danger to HIS life. I wouldn't might betting that the safety of his comrades never even entered is mind!!!

I probably would have done the same thing as it is an instinctive action.

[englishoak]

Unbelievable stuff some keyboard warriors are coming out with .... guy reacted in a split second ... maybe right or wrong tactic but clearly to get it away from him and his colleges ...he gets shredded by a grenade for doing a pretty heroic thing and its an Accident ?? unbelievable

Steve you havnt ever been in a life threatening situation under fire im certain and you cant say what you would do until it happens, no one can they can only assume or hope what they will do until its testing time... even pros make the wrong call based on instinct.. it remains he acted unselfishly and got badly hurt by it. I doubt youve ever been in a comrade based group where you rely on your man on the left or right then ?

I hope he is decorated for his actions and taken well care of, in my book it was a heroic effort just like it would be for a nurse to run to help someone under fire though risking themselves is not the correct procedure.... heroes are born of the moment and anyone can ridicule or belittle the action for not being perfect... then again those people have never been tested when the chips are down .. its easy to sit in judgement when its not your life on the line or your comrades.

PS steve the courage bit is shown by the fact if he was only thinking of himself hed have dived away and back not risked kicking it .. that IS courage over cowardice... reaction yes but also courage.

Edited February 20, 2014 by englishoak

[SICHONSTEVE]

It's obvious that many posters here watch Hollywood movies. We can talk movies, or we can talk reality. In reality this man actually endangered his own man. The rule is to stay low and do not break the ranks. He did the opposite and actually increased the number of casualties. I don't doubt he had the best intentions. However he acted recklessly and exposed his colleagues to shrapnel by breaking the ranks. In reality he is actually responsible for higher number of casualties. Brave act - yes, hero - no. Back to your Hollywood movies.

It's obvious you never spent 1 day in the military. Armchair QB.

I have, and more than 1 day - 10 years. That cop made the right decision - other than falling onto the grenade. The shields would have stopped nothing and it was too close for everyone to get up and jump back 3 meters. People were going to get hurt no matter what -

pffft! what am I saying?!?! The grenade was a peaceful one cause we all know the protesters are all peaceful.

Never mind.

If he had left it there then it probably wouldn't have gone off.

Fall on it? You have been watching too many American war films my friend!!

They could easily have jumped back 3 metres as that grenade was doing nothing until he set it off by kicking it away - If Thaksin had not loaded the hierarchy with his relations and police friends then they might have received proper training from real police!!

He is not a hero in my book, just a poorly trained policeman, that's all.

So now you are suggesting the grenade was booby trapped ! Laughable, as already stated on here, a grenade has a timer of seconds before detonating after the pin is removed and the grenade becomes live.

Kindly complete your day one of military training before getting too advanced with your worthless theories.

I seemed to have missed the bit where I stated that it was booby trapped - please tell me the post number.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Unbelievable stuff some keyboard warriors are coming out with .... guy reacted in a split second ... maybe right or wrong tactic but clearly to get it away from him and his colleges ...he gets shredded by a grenade for doing a pretty heroic thing and its an Accident ?? unbelievable

Steve you havnt ever been in a life threatening situation under fire im certain and you cant say what you would do until it happens, no one can they can only assume or hope what they will do until its testing time... even pros make the wrong call based on instinct.. it remains he acted unselfishly and got badly hurt by it.

I hope he is decorated for his actions and taken well care of, in my book it was a heroic effort just like it would be for a nurse to run to help someone under fire though risking themselves is not the correct procedure.... heroes are born of the moment and anyone can ridicule or belittle the action for not being perfect... then again those people have never been tested when the chips are down .. its easy to sit in judgement when its not your life on the line or your comrades.

For starters I have said what I would do in another post, I reiterate, I would probably have kicked it away.

No way would I have done this (wrong action) to save my colleagues lives. It would have been purely instinctive at having this alarming situation present itself with no time to think about what's best to do.

No heroes here I'm afraid!! Not in my book anyway.

[nonthaburial]

It's obvious that many posters here watch Hollywood movies. We can talk movies, or we can talk reality. In reality this man actually endangered his own man. The rule is to stay low and do not break the ranks. He did the opposite and actually increased the number of casualties. I don't doubt he had the best intentions. However he acted recklessly and exposed his colleagues to shrapnel by breaking the ranks. In reality he is actually responsible for higher number of casualties. Brave act - yes, hero - no. Back to your Hollywood movies.

It's obvious you never spent 1 day in the military. Armchair QB.

I have, and more than 1 day - 10 years. That cop made the right decision - other than falling onto the grenade. The shields would have stopped nothing and it was too close for everyone to get up and jump back 3 meters. People were going to get hurt no matter what -

pffft! what am I saying?!?! The grenade was a peaceful one cause we all know the protesters are all peaceful.

Never mind.

If he had left it there then it probably wouldn't have gone off.

Fall on it? You have been watching too many American war films my friend!!

They could easily have jumped back 3 metres as that grenade was doing nothing until he set it off by kicking it away - If Thaksin had not loaded the hierarchy with his relations and police friends then they might have received proper training from real police!!

He is not a hero in my book, just a poorly trained policeman, that's all.

So now you are suggesting the grenade was booby trapped ! Laughable, as already stated on here, a grenade has a timer of seconds before detonating after the pin is removed and the grenade becomes live.

Kindly complete your day one of military training before getting too advanced with your worthless theories.

I seemed to have missed the bit where I stated that it was booby trapped - please tell me the post number.

You stated quite clearly that if he had not of kicked it, the grenade would probably have not exploded, which I took to mean he disturbed it and it went off, which is what I understood you have said. So a dormant explosive such as an IED only activates when it is disturbed, another name for booby trapped. The more obvious possibility is that as he was about to kick or did actually kick, was the exact time that the primer activated causing the grenade to explode. So in this case it would have absolutely nothing to do with a kick.

[Tywais]

Look,

There is clearly a few folks here who have NEVER seen nor thrown a fragmentation grenade (what it is REALLY called in the US military) - it is CLEARLY this type of grenade.

ANYONE who has served, even cooks, know better - those who claim otherwise probably cannot even tell you what a DD214 is (until they google it). White stripe - yellow stripe? Trick from the sunlight? Colorblindness? IRRELEVANT! i could paint a grenade to look like a tennis ball - it would do NOTHING to dampen or enhance the effects!

It is true there is a 5 second fuse on frag grenades (standard). But when 20 guys are huddled behind shields, in a chaotic area - they are lucky 1 cop spotted it!

Again, don't believe the idiots in this thread who bad mouth the cop and his efforts to try to kick away the grenade. They clearly have played too much counterstrike and never served their country - don't confuse their opinion as fact.

sorry but you are so far from the truth it is not funny, as I stated previously look at the white marking, this means it is a PRACTICE/UNFILLED grenade, not a frag grenade, any army trained person would be aware of this, the fact you do not even understand what the colour codes means or are for shows us all that you have never been trained with any explosive/live ammo in the forces as it is all colour coded so every man knows what they are handling, every single piece. You are simply googling crap and repeating it, you are definitely part of those few folks.

Perhaps a bit too hard on him. My military training was with the M26, which predates the M67 by a few years, and also with the M203 grenade launcher attachment for the M16. At that time we were taught to 'lob' the grenade and not to throw it like a baseball and the reasoning is to keep it from rolling or skipping away from the intended target. That grenade was clearly thrown hard and flat based on the trajectory and ground bounce it took. Also, NOT to pull the pin with your teeth. Remember the instructor specifically saying 'this is not a John Wayne movie'. Perhaps that has changed as my training was for Vietnam. The practice grenade is the M69 and is normally blue in color to distinguish it. I've never seen a white band on them but perhaps the identification markings vary from country to country, or has changed more recently.

I was the first to point out in another topic where the video stated it was a M79 and I corrected it to M67. Big difference in appearance as the M79 looks like a big suppository.

One thing I noticed in the video is that the officer moved his shield in front of the guy to his right and pulled him back and away from the device. Perhaps just coincidental. No one knows how he will respond in the same situation, it is panic mode driven unless heavily trained which I seriously doubt the police are for this scenario.

Personally, I think what he did was commendable whether by instinct for self preservation or keeping his comrades in mind. Just glad he survived, as is his family.

[SICHONSTEVE]

It's obvious that many posters here watch Hollywood movies. We can talk movies, or we can talk reality. In reality this man actually endangered his own man. The rule is to stay low and do not break the ranks. He did the opposite and actually increased the number of casualties. I don't doubt he had the best intentions. However he acted recklessly and exposed his colleagues to shrapnel by breaking the ranks. In reality he is actually responsible for higher number of casualties. Brave act - yes, hero - no. Back to your Hollywood movies.

It's obvious you never spent 1 day in the military. Armchair QB.

I have, and more than 1 day - 10 years. That cop made the right decision - other than falling onto the grenade. The shields would have stopped nothing and it was too close for everyone to get up and jump back 3 meters. People were going to get hurt no matter what -

pffft! what am I saying?!?! The grenade was a peaceful one cause we all know the protesters are all peaceful.

Never mind.

If he had left it there then it probably wouldn't have gone off.

Fall on it? You have been watching too many American war films my friend!!

They could easily have jumped back 3 metres as that grenade was doing nothing until he set it off by kicking it away - If Thaksin had not loaded the hierarchy with his relations and police friends then they might have received proper training from real police!!

He is not a hero in my book, just a poorly trained policeman, that's all.

So now you are suggesting the grenade was booby trapped ! Laughable, as already stated on here, a grenade has a timer of seconds before detonating after the pin is removed and the grenade becomes live.

Kindly complete your day one of military training before getting too advanced with your worthless theories.

I seemed to have missed the bit where I stated that it was booby trapped - please tell me the post number.

You stated quite clearly that if he had not of kicked it, the grenade would probably have not exploded, which I took to mean he disturbed it and it went off, which is what I understood you have said. So a dormant explosive such as an IED only activates when it is disturbed, another name for booby trapped. The more obvious possibility is that as he was about to kick or did actually kick, was the exact time that the primer activated causing the grenade to explode. So in this case it would have absolutely nothing to do with a kick.

It would have been really interesting to see what would have happened if he had left it alone - explosion? maybe, or maybe not.

We will never know, so there is no point debating this issue really.

[Local Drunk]

Look,

There is clearly a few folks here who have NEVER seen nor thrown a fragmentation grenade (what it is REALLY called in the US military) - it is CLEARLY this type of grenade.

ANYONE who has served, even cooks, know better - those who claim otherwise probably cannot even tell you what a DD214 is (until they google it). White stripe - yellow stripe? Trick from the sunlight? Colorblindness? IRRELEVANT! i could paint a grenade to look like a tennis ball - it would do NOTHING to dampen or enhance the effects!

It is true there is a 5 second fuse on frag grenades (standard). But when 20 guys are huddled behind shields, in a chaotic area - they are lucky 1 cop spotted it!

Again, don't believe the idiots in this thread who bad mouth the cop and his efforts to try to kick away the grenade. They clearly have played too much counterstrike and never served their country - don't confuse their opinion as fact.

Falling on a grenade refers to the deliberate act of using one's body to cover a live time-fused hand grenade, absorbing the explosion and fragmentation in an effort to save the lives of others nearby. Since this is almost universally fatal, it is considered an especially conspicuous and selfless act of individual sacrifice in wartime; in United States military history, more citations for the Medal of Honor have been awarded for falling on grenades to save comrades than any other single act.

I think that his family will be grateful that you weren't training him in how to deal with grenades when they land at your feet Mr I'm an expert on this!!!.

You can't fault him for his courage. I'd jump in front of a car without a thought to save a kid, and in the end I'd be dead. Stupid on my part perhaps, but the kid survives. It's just one of those things isn't it.

The slight difference is, that I simply do not accept the courage bit. All I think happened was when he saw the grenade he probably thought "danger" and kicked it away without even thinking. This is a rational (even though it turned out to be the wrong one) response when faced with immediate danger to HIS life. I wouldn't might betting that the safety of his comrades never even entered is mind!!!

I probably would have done the same thing as it is an instinctive action.

It certainly could have been a case of self preservation and there's nothing wrong with that either. I think it really comes down to a lack of training. I can't fault him for that... This is perhaps one we should just let go.

Edited February 20, 2014 by Local Drunk

[BlueNoseCodger]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH7L48rxu0A

It would have been really interesting to see what would have happened if he had left it alone - explosion? maybe, or maybe not.

We will never know, so there is no point debating this issue really.

Why do we need to debate the issue, we know how hand-grenades work, Suthep's men throw them, they explode, maime and kill innocent voters and policemen, and you guys come out and make excuse for your warlord Suthep!

So yeh, we know. We can see it in the video.

[jcisco]

The article only states that it was suspected to be a M67 model grenade. So it could of been another device hence the damage may not of been as expected of an M67. Furthermore depending on the blast the officers body armor or boots could of absorbed the lethal fragments and not his torso.

Not sure what you are expecting, absolute precision with weapons.

Edited February 20, 2014 by jcisco

[NomadJoe]

If he had left it there then it probably wouldn't have gone off.

Fall on it? You have been watching too many American war films my friend!!

They could easily have jumped back 3 metres as that grenade was doing nothing until he set it off by kicking it away -

More nonsense from the video game players.

Yes. Silly post of the day award that. It clearly went off just before he would have kicked it.

[seajae]

The article only states that it was suspected to be a M67 model grenade. So it could of been another device hence the damage may not of been as expected of an M67.

A screenshot zoomed in of the video that I posted earlier in another topic. Not really much doubt about it being either a M67 or M69 (training grenade) modified. Green is the norm for M67.

post-566-0-06490400-1392745473.jpg

beauty, and the white markings confirm it is not high exlosive, more like an empty, just the detanator/fuse, why no one was killed and small balst radius

[Tywais]

The article only states that it was suspected to be a M67 model grenade. So it could of been another device hence the damage may not of been as expected of an M67.

A screenshot zoomed in of the video that I posted earlier in another topic. Not really much doubt about it being either a M67 or M69 (training grenade) modified. Green is the norm for M67.

post-566-0-06490400-1392745473.jpg

beauty, and the white markings confirm it is not high exlosive, more like an empty, just the detanator/fuse, why no one was killed and small balst radius

Not so sure as this is what a M67 explosion looks like and doesn't look to dissimilar. But as I mentioned, perhaps a M69 modified and loaded up.

However looking at this the M67 seems more powerful than in the news video.

[NomadJoe]

The article only states that it was suspected to be a M67 model grenade. So it could of been another device hence the damage may not of been as expected of an M67.

A screenshot zoomed in of the video that I posted earlier in another topic. Not really much doubt about it being either a M67 or M69 (training grenade) modified. Green is the norm for M67.

post-566-0-06490400-1392745473.jpg

The more I watch the video of the explosion and read of how relatively minor the injuries are considering the proximity, the more it looks to me like a concussion grenade. Concussion grenades still have a fatality radius of 2m, but kill with explosive power alone, not with fragmentation. The injuries are defiantly more consistent with a concussion grenade.