Policeman shot dead in private car - girlfriend claims his gun went off accidentally

[webfact]

Policeman shot dead in private car - girlfriend claims his gun went off accidentally

 

Image: Sanook

 

BANGKOK: -- A Bangkok policeman is dead after a gun went off in a car as his girlfriend drove them home just after midnight this morning.

 

The woman - named only as Suphapitchaya,23 - was driving the Honda Civic as they approached a police checkpoint on the Ratanathibet Road in the Nonthaburi area of Bangkok, reported Sanook.

 

She said that as her boyfriend - named as Rutchakorn,25 - reached in a bag for his ID to show at the checkpoint his gun went off and he was hit. She rushed to the checkpoint.

 

There officers took over the driving and made a dash for Pranang Klao Hospital. But the policeman was dead on arrival.

 

An initial examination of the body found that he had been shot in the left leg and the bullet had passed through. There were two wounds to the back of the leg by the knee and the back of the left shin. Police found the gun - a Glock 23 - and an empty cartridge casing in the car.

 

There were ten unused bullets in the magazine.

 

Suphapitchaya said that they had been eating at a restaurant in Rama 5 and she had driven them home at 11.30pm.

 

The body was sent for a detailed autopsy as gunpowder residue tests were made on the body and the hands of the girlfriend. She was taken for further questioning to Ratanthibet police station.

 

Source: Sanook

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2016-08-03

[ratcatcher]

"She said that as her boyfriend - named as Rutchakorn,25 - reached in a bag for his ID to show at the checkpoint his gun went off and he was hit. "

 

Irresponsible? No safety catch on the gun? Shoots himself in the leg and dies. Tragic.

[DLang]

Unfortunate.

 

 

No bullet protection amulet?

[putsinker]

Hang on, they were at the checkpoint, shot in the leg, so presumably he bled to death. Why no immediate first aid from trained policemen at the scene, a quick tourniquet could have been applied surely???????????     Sounds like panick set in.

[nausea]

I'm no first aid expert but wouldn't a tourniquet have saved him.

[mahjongguy]

The Glock 23: "...the lack of a traditional external on-off safety means that the weapon will always fire when the trigger is depressed normally: "The ability to fire immediately, without worrying about an external safety, is one feature Glock has stressed as an advantage when selling its guns, especially to police departments... "

[NextStationBangkok]

There is a trigger safety mechanism in every arms. It has to be properly locked when the gun in faced down at the time of not used or stored in the belts. I am not sure off-duty officer is allowed to carry guns during person trips, generally has to be deposited in the police stations when signing off from the duty. Sometime just to show-off purpose carrying something dangerous costs the lives.

 

https://us.glock.com/technology/safe-action

[Thian]

How can you die from a shot in the leg in a busy city as BKK?? It was right infront of the policecheckpoint.. and there are plenty hospitals at rattana tibet

[gdgbb]

11 minutes ago, putsinker said:

Hang on, they were at the checkpoint, shot in the leg, so presumably he bled to death. Why no immediate first aid from trained policemen at the scene, a quick tourniquet could have been applied surely???????????     Sounds like panick set in.

 

Clearly your knowledge of tourniquets is limited.

 

[gdgbb]

3 minutes ago, Thian said:

How can you die from a shot in the leg in a busy city as BKK?? It was right infront of the policecheckpoint.. and there are plenty hospitals at rattana tibet

 

The rate of blood loss from, presumably, arterial bleeding does not depend on the location of the incident, it depends on the severity of the wound and speed of treatment.  And if you read the report you will see that he was taken to hospital, immediately.

[ClutchClark]

10 minutes ago, Thian said:

How can you die from a shot in the leg in a busy city as BKK?? It was right infront of the policecheckpoint.. and there are plenty hospitals at rattana tibet

 

Ever hear of a femural and/or Popliteal Artery?

Edited August 3, 2016 by ClutchClark

[Thian]

1 minute ago, gdgbb said:

 

The rate of blood loss from, presumably, arterial bleeding does not depend on the location of the incident, it depends on the severity of the wound and speed of treatment.  And if you read the report you will see that he was taken to hospital, immediately.

 

It was 11:30 pm, at that time there is no traffic jam at rattana tibet so the ambulance could easy come fast. Also the police could have brought their collegue even faster.

 

So Thai police don't have a safety-pal on their guns? Well what else is new, Thai and safety in one sentence is too mutt.

[mahjongguy]

The Glock 23 is a .40 calibre weapon.   It's not meant to be survivable. 

[colinneil]

Night out with the girlfriend, he should not have had a loaded gun in his bag.

He has paid the ultimate price for his stupidity.

[putsinker]

14 minutes ago, gdgbb said:

 

Clearly your knowledge of tourniquets is limited.

 

How so?

[putsinker]

6 minutes ago, mahjongguy said:

The Glock 23 is a .40 calibre weapon.   It's not meant to be survivable. 

A friend of mine had both his legs severed in a railway accident, he survived because someone applied a tourniquet to each leg. So a gunshot wound however serious could surely be treated the same way, even if it blew his leg clean off.

[ratcatcher]

7 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Night out with the girlfriend, he should not have had a loaded gun in his bag.

He has paid the ultimate price for his stupidity.

Safer with a loaded 'gun' in his pants eh?

[Confuscious]

So funny to read the answer of the TV-experts in Health and First-Aid and Firearms at work.
Almost like reading Wikipedia.
Thailand must be happy to have all these knowledgeable expats at hand.

 

[ezzra]

1 hour ago, putsinker said:

Hang on, they were at the checkpoint, shot in the leg, so presumably he bled to death. Why no immediate first aid from trained policemen at the scene, a quick tourniquet could have been applied surely???????????     Sounds like panick set in.

 

Those guys are trained in collecting the fines ' on your behalf " so you don't have to waste time going to the police station, that they can profome with their eyes shut, oh yeah, also, they can shoot their guns without discrimination and hit bystanders like they're in the OK corral gun fight, anything else and you're asking for too much here.....

Edited August 3, 2016 by ezzra

[ddavidovsky]

Could have been worse - by a few inches.

[nausea]

So would a tourniquet work or not? Conflicting views above, any medical experts out there. You never know, such knowledge might come in useful one day,  Some Eagle Scout guy saved his own life by tourniqueting a femoral artery wound with electrical  cord at a mass shooting incident. There seems to be some consensus on the Net that it would, if properly applied, but should only be used in life threatening situations, as you risk losing the limb,  the latter being the reason why tourniquets generally have a bad press, so it would have to be a die or lose your limb scenario.  So, it's a judgement call. In the current case, being a leg wound, maybe the guys didn't realise how serious it was, or maybe they're not trained in emergency first aid, or maybe both. One things for sure, the parachute training didn't help much, but at least they have a nice pair of wings.

[Bluespunk]

49 minutes ago, ddavidovsky said:

Could have been worse - by a few inches.

He's dead. How can it be worse?

[JacChang]

Which gun are we talking about here? Was the girl playing with the wrong one?

[Uncle Pecker]

There is no way the Glock will fire without pulling the trigger and the second small trigger.  I own 5 Glocks btw.  You need to make sure that if you're going to carry a Glock with a round Chambered, you'd better make sure you have the proper holster which has a trigger guard.  I'll bet this guy did not and was using some cheap cloth holster. There is NO WAY the gun will go off unless it's owner did something to make it go off. Of course, the Thais will try to blame it on the gun manufacturer instead of the stupidity of the deceased. This story is total BS.  His death was caused by negligence on his part.

[FireMedic]

I am an expert and a tourniquet (applied quickly ant correctly) should have worked....Another reason why I carried an IFAK on or near me. A 40 to the thigh would do incredible damage getting the major artery easily. There is a good video on Youtube where a cop shoots a guy in the leg and you can see how fast he goes unconscious and ultimately died in just a minute or two..  

Edited August 3, 2016 by FireMedic

[animalmagic]

I spent quite a few years teaching the Glock pistol in a law enforcement environment and even wrote a few training programmes having undergone specialist Glock training in USA provided by the company itself.  The first safety is a trigger within a trigger that requires a proper grip and application of the trigger finger onto the trigger itself to release the trigger safety before the trigger can be depressed further to discharge a bullet.  Although I don't discount it as impossible to inadvertently do that I would suggest it is difficult if the owner is compos mentis and remembers there is a gun in the bag in the first place; I agree with the above post that a suitable holster should preclude that from happening.

The caliber of the weapon is really irrelevant as any gunshot damage to the femoral artery in the thigh could cause massive bleeding that may result in death within 30 seconds.

[neverdie]

3 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

"She said that as her boyfriend - named as Rutchakorn,25 - reached in a bag for his ID to show at the checkpoint his gun went off and he was hit. "

 

Irresponsible? No safety catch on the gun? Shoots himself in the leg and dies. Tragic.

 

I can't speak for everywhere in the world but in Australia for one, law enforcement don't use sidearms with safety catches.

 

i had the Glock model 22, .40 cal smith and Wesson round. There was no safety.

 

internally there are safety's in case the weapon is dropped etc, but none to prevent the trigger from being pulled.  There is a reason for it, but irrelevant to this really.

[neverdie]

2 hours ago, colinneil said:

Night out with the girlfriend, he should not have had a loaded gun in his bag.

He has paid the ultimate price for his stupidity.

 

Carry an unloaded weapon for what?

 

Most first responders don't wait until a threat presents itself, as for a moment to load their weapon and then proceed.

 

the fact the weapon wasn't secured in an appropriate holster is the stupid part.

 

 

 

 

[ddavidovsky]

1 hour ago, Bluespunk said:

He's dead. How can it be worse?

He could have shot himself in the groin and died that way.

Come to think of it, he could have shot his girlfriend - that would have been much worse.

 

[sandgroper2]

2 hours ago, Confuscious said:

So funny to read the answer of the TV-experts in Health and First-Aid and Firearms at work.
Almost like reading Wikipedia.
Thailand must be happy to have all these knowledgeable expats at hand.

 

Leave them alone. They have nothing better to do , and, they are happy. Shame on you.