Japanese Golfer Allegedly Beaten Over Disputed Fare in Chiang Mai

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Japanese Golfer Allegedly Beaten Over Disputed Fare in Chiang Mai

A red truck taxi called 'rot daeng' seen in a December 2013 file photo. Photo: Abdul Rahman

By Teeranai Charuvastra

Staff Reporter

CHIANG MAI — A Japanese man was allegedly assaulted Tuesday by a driver of one of the red songtaew which circulate through Chiang Mai, and police said they are searching for his attacker.

Police were alerted to the incident through social media when someone posted a photo of what looked like a local driver punching an elderly Japanese man near the entrance to a golf course on Mahidol Road.

“We are inspecting CCTV footage to track down the taxi,” Chiang Mai police Lt. Col. Nitikorn Sangkhakorn said today. “From the information we have read, it won’t be difficult. I believe we will be able to arrest and prosecute the driver who committed this crime for the sake of Chiang Mai’s city image.”

Nitikorn said police learned of the incident from Facebook and immediately dispatched officers to the scene to gather evidence.

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1446641706

-- Khaosod English 2015-11-04

[roo860]

Well done D I Facebook, cracked another case!!!!!

[Chicog]

Yes, do it for the sake of "Chiang Mai's image", not the poor old foreigner who got beaten up by a scumbag.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Chicog

[HLover]

Ahh, taxi drivers - worldwide scumbags.

[Bender]

for every tourists who got assaulted, raped or murdered, i wonder how many are reported in the newspapers?

Certainly less than 1% but still the thai apologist claims this country is safe a paradise...

[daoyai]

for every tourists who got assaulted, raped or murdered, i wonder how many are reported in the newspapers?

Certainly less than 1% but still the thai apologist claims this country is safe a paradise...

In this age of Info. tech. things aren't in "the newspapers" but onlne. This country is far from paradise but generally safe once you learn the ropes.

The old guy may have refused to be overcharged on his ride, or maybe a misunderstanding language issue. Maybe the driver snapped, hopefully the "real story" will come out. Edit, just read the full article.... the driver is a thug and thief. I have ridden songteaw at least a thousand times in CM and very few bad experiences and nothing like this, never charged more than the agreed price.

Edited November 4, 2015 by daoyai

[canopus1969]

Ahh, taxi drivers - worldwide scumbags.

Stupid to generalise

[jimstar1]

Great Thai Culture and smiles for visitors What has Happened to the land of Smiles

[Emster23]

I used to live in Japan, and drivers there are not "scum bags": wear white gloves, seats have white slips over them, very polite, etc. So perhaps old man had similar expectations in LOS.

[freebyrd]

So much for Thais and their respect for older people. Like everything else it only applies to their own kind and even then it's a smoke screen and nothing more. I was once a big fan of Thailand, not so these days, but it matters not as I don't live there any longer.

[puukao]

That is not my 3 wood!!! Now give me 100 baht!!! BANG< BANG!!!! You are about to go from 8 under to 8 over...

[soalbundy]

He should get a sex life then he wouldn't have to play golf

[SOTIRIOS]

......nothing to do with justice....just image....there you have it....

...the victim is irrelevant...tourist dollars are at risk....

[ggt]

I love Thailand...where else can you have this much fun on a regular basis and in so many diverse Thai cities?

[vogie]

for every tourists who got assaulted, raped or murdered, i wonder how many are reported in the newspapers?

Certainly less than 1% but still the thai apologist claims this country is safe a paradise...

Where did the figure of 1% come from? I would love to see your source.

[IAMHERE]

for every tourists who got assaulted, raped or murdered, i wonder how many are reported in the newspapers?

Certainly less than 1% but still the thai apologist claims this country is safe a paradise...

Where did the figure of 1% come from? I would love to see your source.

Be careful what you wish for, I suspect he pulled that number from out his butt.

[Bender]

for every tourists who got assaulted, raped or murdered, i wonder how many are reported in the newspapers?

Certainly less than 1% but still the thai apologist claims this country is safe a paradise...

In this age of Info. tech. things aren't in "the newspapers" but onlne. This country is far from paradise but generally safe once you learn the ropes.

The old guy may have refused to be overcharged on his ride, or maybe a misunderstanding language issue. Maybe the driver snapped, hopefully the "real story" will come out. Edit, just read the full article.... the driver is a thug and thief. I have ridden songteaw at least a thousand times in CM and very few bad experiences and nothing like this, never charged more than the agreed price.

"but generally safe once you learn the ropes."

this is a country, where 2 young tourists Hannah and David have been raped and murdered. And the culprits are walking free...2 scapegoats are sleeping in jail.

this is a country, where they found 2 beheaded tourists near Koh larn.

and i can make you a long list of gruesome crime.

Now name another country where tourists are slaughtered in huge numbre???? NAME ME ONE!

And you dare to call this country safe?!!!

[Bender]

for every tourists who got assaulted, raped or murdered, i wonder how many are reported in the newspapers?

Certainly less than 1% but still the thai apologist claims this country is safe a paradise...

Where did the figure of 1% come from? I would love to see your source.

Be careful what you wish for, I suspect he pulled that number from out his butt.

you mean your mother's butt

note to the mods: i dont like to be insulted by trolling people

[Tom Cahill]

for every tourists who got assaulted, raped or murdered, i wonder how many are reported in the newspapers?

Certainly less than 1% but still the thai apologist claims this country is safe a paradise...

In this age of Info. tech. things aren't in "the newspapers" but onlne. This country is far from paradise but generally safe once you learn the ropes.

The old guy may have refused to be overcharged on his ride, or maybe a misunderstanding language issue. Maybe the driver snapped, hopefully the "real story" will come out. Edit, just read the full article.... the driver is a thug and thief. I have ridden songteaw at least a thousand times in CM and very few bad experiences and nothing like this, never charged more than the agreed price.

"but generally safe once you learn the ropes."

this is a country, where 2 young tourists Hannah and David have been raped and murdered. And the culprits are walking free...2 scapegoats are sleeping in jail.

this is a country, where they found 2 beheaded tourists near Koh larn.

and i can make you a long list of gruesome crime.

Now name another country where tourists are slaughtered in huge numbre???? NAME ME ONE!

And you dare to call this country safe?!!!

It's not dangerous here. It's just that they're totally retarded at covering it up. I can name a load, i.e. any European country or the UK. Tourists get killed and often that's via murder all the time, but it's not made a big thing of as the police are better at not enraging any of the family back home, by saying they shouldn't've worn a bikini or they're only British so don't count or they're only looking into it to save the reputation of the area and the tourism.

Lying isn't good, but what you don't know doesn't enrage you. They are terrible at lying and they always get caught out. It's a total lack of standards that causes this, like making a big mess in their own houses, having accidents, breaking things, allowing dogs to bite people, not feeding dogs then being annoyed when they get the food out of the bins---zero forward planning.

[Bender]

for every tourists who got assaulted, raped or murdered, i wonder how many are reported in the newspapers?

Certainly less than 1% but still the thai apologist claims this country is safe a paradise...

In this age of Info. tech. things aren't in "the newspapers" but onlne. This country is far from paradise but generally safe once you learn the ropes.

The old guy may have refused to be overcharged on his ride, or maybe a misunderstanding language issue. Maybe the driver snapped, hopefully the "real story" will come out. Edit, just read the full article.... the driver is a thug and thief. I have ridden songteaw at least a thousand times in CM and very few bad experiences and nothing like this, never charged more than the agreed price.

"but generally safe once you learn the ropes."

this is a country, where 2 young tourists Hannah and David have been raped and murdered. And the culprits are walking free...2 scapegoats are sleeping in jail.

this is a country, where they found 2 beheaded tourists near Koh larn.

and i can make you a long list of gruesome crime.

Now name another country where tourists are slaughtered in huge numbre???? NAME ME ONE!

And you dare to call this country safe?!!!

It's not dangerous here. It's just that they're totally retarded at covering it up. I can name a load, i.e. any European country or the UK. Tourists get killed and often that's via murder all the time, but it's not made a big thing of as the police are better at not enraging any of the family back home, by saying they shouldn't've worn a bikini or they're only British so don't count or they're only looking into it to save the reputation of the area and the tourism.

Lying isn't good, but what you don't know doesn't enrage you. They are terrible at lying and they always get caught out. It's a total lack of standards that causes this, like making a big mess in their own houses, having accidents, breaking things, allowing dogs to bite people, not feeding dogs then being annoyed when they get the food out of the bins---zero forward planning.

"any European country or the UK"

Seriously? There are 10 time less murders in the UK than in this country!

You mean you have country in Europe where tourists are beheaded or murdered in huge number, really?

Rubbish!

This is a third world country, with a third world police... as i said all these bad news are only the tip of the iceberg!

Anyway i am not here to convince you, but just to voice my opinions!

Have a good day!

[mijako]

He should get a sex life then he wouldn't have to play golf

you can have a sex life AND play golf. But not at the same time

[Discombobulated]

I used to live in Japan, and drivers there are not "scum bags": wear white gloves, seats have white slips over them, very polite, etc. So perhaps old man had similar expectations in LOS.

I also used to live in Japan, and agree that the taxi experience there is at the opposite end of the scale: the only time drivers would hint at a little displeasure is if you offered them a tip and tried to open/close the automatic doors! One experience when my parents were visiting was the driver couldn't understand my directions (my rudimentary language failed), but he secured us another taxi and refused any payment. Perhaps it would be useful if the Japanese and/or Thai tourism authorities would provide some basic 'warnings' about the different experience here (or just about any other country I've visited hereabouts!

[tomyumchai]

He should get a sex life then he wouldn't have to play golf

you can have a sex life AND play golf. But not at the same time

you can when you tell the wife youve gone to play golf......but omit to tell her about the stop off in ban chang on the way back......

[Tom Cahill]

It's not dangerous here. It's just that they're totally retarded at covering it up. I can name a load, i.e. any European country or the UK. Tourists get killed and often that's via murder all the time, but it's not made a big thing of as the police are better at not enraging any of the family back home, by saying they shouldn't've worn a bikini or they're only British so don't count or they're only looking into it to save the reputation of the area and the tourism.

Lying isn't good, but what you don't know doesn't enrage you. They are terrible at lying and they always get caught out. It's a total lack of standards that causes this, like making a big mess in their own houses, having accidents, breaking things, allowing dogs to bite people, not feeding dogs then being annoyed when they get the food out of the bins---zero forward planning.

In this age of Info. tech. things aren't in "the newspapers" but onlne. This country is far from paradise but generally safe once you learn the ropes.

for every tourists who got assaulted, raped or murdered, i wonder how many are reported in the newspapers?

Certainly less than 1% but still the thai apologist claims this country is safe a paradise...

The old guy may have refused to be overcharged on his ride, or maybe a misunderstanding language issue. Maybe the driver snapped, hopefully the "real story" will come out. Edit, just read the full article.... the driver is a thug and thief. I have ridden songteaw at least a thousand times in CM and very few bad experiences and nothing like this, never charged more than the agreed price.

"but generally safe once you learn the ropes."

this is a country, where 2 young tourists Hannah and David have been raped and murdered. And the culprits are walking free...2 scapegoats are sleeping in jail.

this is a country, where they found 2 beheaded tourists near Koh larn.

and i can make you a long list of gruesome crime.

Now name another country where tourists are slaughtered in huge numbre???? NAME ME ONE!

And you dare to call this country safe?!!!

"any European country or the UK"

Seriously? There are 10 time less murders in the UK than in this country!

You mean you have country in Europe where tourists are beheaded or murdered in huge number, really?

Rubbish!

This is a third world country, with a third world police... as i said all these bad news are only the tip of the iceberg!

Anyway i am not here to convince you, but just to voice my opinions!

Have a good day!

I've worked in holiday locations, and they're very dark places. Lots of people get beaten up and end up in intensive care all the time. Lots of people get murdered or go missing---women get stolen. All these things happen in any given week. These aren't just things that I've heard about happening at some time some months back, I'm talking as I was there, where I was. I know the amount of violence is worse in poor countries where people are just generally scared of the police as opposed to being scared that they'll be in trouble if they do anything wrong. In Ibiza the police get accused of raping many people per month---that's just the police. A lot of the problems is people who've sneaked into the areas from North Africa so they're not technically there, so it's very hard to catch them. Go to anywhere like Romania, Bulgaria or Albania and the crime rate's definitely much, much, much higher than here---largely poverty related with massive corruption as well. I'm not convinced we're disagreeing with each other.

[arrowsdawdle]

He should get a sex life then he wouldn't have to play golf

Same difference...everything goes in but the balls.

[arrowsdawdle]

Clearly, the investigation is going to discover that a Burmese hijacked and was driving that songtaew because no Thai would do such a thing.

[Johnnyngai]

for every tourists who got assaulted, raped or murdered, i wonder how many are reported in the newspapers?

Certainly less than 1% but still the thai apologist claims this country is safe a paradise...

In this age of Info. tech. things aren't in "the newspapers" but onlne. This country is far from paradise but generally safe once you learn the ropes.

The old guy may have refused to be overcharged on his ride, or maybe a misunderstanding language issue. Maybe the driver snapped, hopefully the "real story" will come out. Edit, just read the full article.... the driver is a thug and thief. I have ridden songteaw at least a thousand times in CM and very few bad experiences and nothing like this, never charged more than the agreed price.

"but generally safe once you learn the ropes."

this is a country, where 2 young tourists Hannah and David have been raped and murdered. And the culprits are walking free...2 scapegoats are sleeping in jail.

this is a country, where they found 2 beheaded tourists near Koh larn.

and i can make you a long list of gruesome crime.

Now name another country where tourists are slaughtered in huge numbre???? NAME ME ONE!

And you dare to call this country safe?!!!

All third world countries are the same. Philippine is much more dangerous.

[DLang]

Was the Thai smiling when he beat the old man?

[DLang]

Come to the Jungle, expect there to be a large number of savage animals.

[Bender]

the police will certainly caught this dangerous taxi driver(as a publicity stunt)

but sadly, the cops will just fine him 200 baht...

and do you think that 200 baht is a crime deterrent???