Phuket hit-and-run Russians now fugitives

[webfact]

Phuket hit-and-run Russians now fugitives
Phuket Gazette


Larisa and Valentin Kim are wanted by the Phuket Police for the fatal hit-and-run that killed a 16-year-old Phuket boy. Photo: Supplied

PHUKET: -- Chalong Police are seeking arrest warrants for two Russians who have fled the country amid an investigation into a fatal hit-and-run of a 16-year-old boy in Phuket in the early hours of April 5.

Thananbavorn “Lotus” Durongpan was struck and killed while riding his motorbike along Patak Road near Chalong Circle, just after 1am, explained Capt Thada Sodarak of the Chalong Police.

“Phuket Immigration has confirmed that Larisa Kim, 40, and her husband, Valentin, left Thailand on the night of April 5,” Capt Thada told the Phuket Gazette.

“The Immigration Bureau has added the couple to the border 'watch list', and we are working with the Russian honorary consul in Phuket on what can be done from here.”

Fellow Russian national and key witness to the accident, Ekaterina Muratova, 29, also left the country on April 5, Capt Thada said. He could not confirm whether or not she left on the same flight as Mr and Mrs Kim.

“Ms Muratova’s statement concurred with those of other witnesses, who reported that a black Vios made a sharp u-turn near the Shell gas station and crashed into Mr Thananbavorn, who was driving in the same direction next to the car,” Capt Thada explained.

“Ms Muratova was a passenger in the car with Mrs Kim when the accident occurred. Mrs Kim’s husband, Valentin, was following in another car. They were on their way to a party at their friend Anna’s house.

“Ms Muratova said the boy was not wearing a helmet when Mrs Kim hit him. After the accident, she sped off,” said Capt Thada.

Officers went to the house in Chalong rented by Mr and Mrs Kim in search of them.

“When we arrived, we saw the black car but no one was at the house. We took the car back to the police station,” said Capt Thada.

The car had damage matching the description of the accident, he added.

The April 5 departure of Ms Muratova sparked outrage among Chalong residents, who staged a protest in front of the Villa Market shopping center on April 9, demanding an answer for why the prime suspect was permitted to fly home to Russia before the investigation had been completed.

“I told them that Ms Muratova was only a witness, not a suspect, so she was allowed to go home,” Capt Thada said.

“Everything was made clear to them, and I promised that I would track down the suspects and bring justice for the grieving family.”

— Woranut Pechdee


-- Phuket Gazette 2014-04-18

[LivinginKata]

Talk about Keystone Kops ....

[Kerryd]

"They were on their way to a party at their friend Anna’s house."

Odd. In the original story they had just left the party at Anna's house.

"Police also interviewed Anna, the host of a party the Russian couple had been to before the accident but she told them she did not know their full names."

[stevenl]

"They were on their way to a party at their friend Anna’s house."

Odd. In the original story they had just left the party at Anna's house.

"Police also interviewed Anna, the host of a party the Russian couple had been to before the accident but she told them she did not know their full names."

Nothing strange about that, I still have to read the first story here which got it all right in the first place. And sometimes they revert back again.

The quality of the journalism here is not the highest, they seem afraid to ask any follow up and/or check/confirmation questions. Contraditctions are simply allowed (as are broken promises, but that may be for a different thread) to pass without question.

[eezergood]

Arrest warrant issued now they have left the country, I am sure they will come back to answer those........

[Borzandy]

Thai drivers and Russian drivers.....same same

[belg]

if the cops than not put a warning or alert to the airport, for not leaving the country, imagine what people with stolen passports or even terrorists can expect

[darren84310]

They look rather Asian to me.

[ezzra]

Dear police people, Are you sure you didn't allow these guys to just leave the country as you about to

do to the Hezbollah operatives because this is not Thailand concern and the accident didn't happen

in Thailand? just asking.....

[skorchio]

She is cute and yes she looks a little bit Asian, and the headline in Thaivisa gave me the impression that the real suspects were allowed to leave, yesterday.

[rwdrwdrwd]

They look rather Asian to me.

Do you think that might be because Russia is half in Asia?

[SOTIRIOS]

....it clearly states that the woman struck the motorcycle driver down....so why is the couple wanted...???

[eezergood]

They look rather Asian to me.

Take a look at a map & the borders that Russia & the former USSR have/had.......

any correlation?

[monkeycountry]

Since 9 out of 10 accidents reported in the news in Thailand involve hit and run, and there is rarely if ever any reported outrage about it, I was under the impression that hit and run was, if not strictly legal, then at least socially acceptable?

I wonder what would have happened if the Russians had waited around for the outraged family to arrive at the scene?

I also wonder what the kid on the bike was doing driving next to the car? Was the kid in a separate lane, and the car was crossing lanes in order to make the u-turn, or was the kid illegally passing the car in the narrow space between the car and the curb? Not laying blame, just curious as to who is actually at fault?

[Somtamnication]

Maybe I am missing something here. How can the ruskies be fugitives if A, they have not been convicted nor committed a crime and B, none of them were driving? The Thai driver is the fugitive..

[stevenl]

Dear police people, Are you sure you didn't allow these guys to just leave the country as you about to

do to the Hezbollah operatives because this is not Thailand concern and the accident didn't happen

in Thailand? just asking.....

I'm sure some of the local Phuket politicians will love your comment about Phuket not being part of Thailand. Exactly what they want.

[tetleythedog]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Thai drivers and Russian drivers.....same same

Thais have Ferraris....................Russians have a Toyota, same outcome !

[Lupatria]

"They were on their way to a party at their friend Anna’s house."

Odd. In the original story they had just left the party at Anna's house.

"Police also interviewed Anna, the host of a party the Russian couple had been to before the accident but she told them she did not know their full names."

Nothing strange about that, I still have to read the first story here which got it all right in the first place. And sometimes they revert back again.

The quality of the journalism here is not the highest, they seem afraid to ask any follow up and/or check/confirmation questions. Contraditctions are simply allowed (as are broken promises, but that may be for a different thread) to pass without question.

The quality of the journalism here...

What are you talking about? Cautiously filling pages with content bare of any professional research or investigation. Pedaling back whenever someone may lose face, is hardly any kind of journalism.

The real story here would be, how much they paid and who forked in the money to get them off the hook.

[retarius]

They look rather Asian to me.

Russian has one foot in Europe and one in Asia, and so many of the Russian people are Asians, and actually look like Asians. I know it's complicated with Asians living in Asia and your geography being particularly weak, but that's the way it is. Are you American, so you know what a map looks like? My advice is to stop drinking and spend the money that you save, on taking geography 101, that way you might not look so thick the next time you post on whatever this forum is...Thai visa that's it....is it in Asia?

[Cybervlad]

They look rather Asian to me.

Because Russia is a multi-national country. There live not only people of Russian ethnicity, but also other ethnicities, include Asian ones. They all are citizen of Russia, some speak only Russian, some speak Russian and their own ethnicity language. For example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatar_language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashkir_language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udmurt_language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanty_language

In this case, according family name, those 2 people are Korean ethnicity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koryo-saram

[steelepulse]

They look rather Asian to me.

Do you think that might be because Russia is half in Asia?

They are Koreans that acquired Russian passports according to a Russian friend of mine familiar with this.

[wvavin]

This could only be possible by the arrangement of the corrupted police in Thailand. Either they are pure stupid by giving stupid statements to the media or they just pretended to be stupid.

[WarProfiteer]

They are Koreans that acquired Russian passports according to a Russian friend of mine familiar with this.

With a family name like Kim, this would seem pretty logical...

[IamNoone88]

They will join another famous fugitive who travels very freely and has yet to apprehended....

[Just1Voice]

If the drivers of the car had been Thai, this wouldn't even be more than a small blurb in the news.

Don't know the facts, other than they were both going in same direction and collided when driver attempted a U-Turn. But logically that tells me the bike was in the wrong lane, between cars and curb, and crashed into the car because of it.

But condolences to his family.

[stevenl]

If the drivers of the car had been Thai, this wouldn't even be more than a small blurb in the news.

Don't know the facts, other than they were both going in same direction and collided when driver attempted a U-Turn. But logically that tells me the bike was in the wrong lane, between cars and curb, and crashed into the car because of it.

But condolences to his family.

Doesn't matter where the bike was. The car was doing a u-turn and hit somebody wile making that manouvre, and was therefor in the wrong.

Yes, a Thai would probably have left the scene as well, but would have been apprehended later and compensation would have been paid. I would presume compensation would still have to be paid by the insurance company of the rental car, but I don't know where it was rented from and how much their insurance was.

[SanukJoeII]

They are Koreans that acquired Russian passports according to a Russian friend of mine familiar with this.

With a family name like Kim, this would seem pretty logical...

Nope.

A number of Russians with the name "Kim", were not of Korean descent, but rather were named after the "Kommunistichesky International Molodyozhi" ('Youth Communist International').

[Somtamnication]

They are Koreans that acquired Russian passports according to a Russian friend of mine familiar with this.

With a family name like Kim, this would seem pretty logical...

Makes sense. Their names are changed to Kimsky, Parksky, Heesky and Youngsky.

[Just1Voice]

If the drivers of the car had been Thai, this wouldn't even be more than a small blurb in the news.

Don't know the facts, other than they were both going in same direction and collided when driver attempted a U-Turn. But logically that tells me the bike was in the wrong lane, between cars and curb, and crashed into the car because of it.

But condolences to his family.

Doesn't matter where the bike was. The car was doing a u-turn and hit somebody wile making that manouvre, and was therefor in the wrong.

Yes, a Thai would probably have left the scene as well, but would have been apprehended later and compensation would have been paid. I would presume compensation would still have to be paid by the insurance company of the rental car, but I don't know where it was rented from and how much their insurance was.

Sorry, but YOUR logic is wrong. IF the car was in the proper lane, and had signaled their intentions (facts we don't really know), and the bike was between cars and curb, then the bike was totally in the wrong. I've had this happen to me more than a few times here over the past 6 years, and just lucky that I haven't actually hit one of these idiots.

EDIT: Also can't count the number of times I've slowed down, with left signal on, slowly moving over the make left hand turn, and STILL have to watch out for the untrained, stupid bike drivers who rush to squeeze past on my left side, nearly causing the same result.

Edited April 18, 2014 by Just1Voice

[stevenl]

If the drivers of the car had been Thai, this wouldn't even be more than a small blurb in the news.

Don't know the facts, other than they were both going in same direction and collided when driver attempted a U-Turn. But logically that tells me the bike was in the wrong lane, between cars and curb, and crashed into the car because of it.

But condolences to his family.

Doesn't matter where the bike was. The car was doing a u-turn and hit somebody wile making that manouvre, and was therefor in the wrong.

Yes, a Thai would probably have left the scene as well, but would have been apprehended later and compensation would have been paid. I would presume compensation would still have to be paid by the insurance company of the rental car, but I don't know where it was rented from and how much their insurance was.

Sorry, but YOUR logic is wrong. IF the car was in the proper lane, and had signaled their intentions (facts we don't really know), and the bike was between cars and curb, then the bike was totally in the wrong.<snip>

No, not true. If having an accident with oncoming traffic or traffic from behind while performing an u-turn the vehicle making the turn is in the wrong.

Edited April 18, 2014 by stevenl