German dies as locals assume he is drunk and leave him on the ground

Report by Pattaya One News Team

 

  

PATTAYA: -- At 3.30am, on the morning of October 5, Pattaya police were called to the scene for what appeared to be a mystery death in front of the Community Pharmacy Boonkanchana 10/9 Soi Watboonkanchanaram, Pattaya.

 

There Sawang Boriboon medics attended the body of fifty-six-year old German national, Mr Frank Butter, who was laying on the ground. He appeared to have been foaming at the mouth.

 

Medics estimated he had been dead for three-hours and there was no sign of any struggle, violence or injury.

 

Officers crucially discovered an asthma spray in his pocket and this was taken as evidence.

 

Thirty-one year old food vendor, Ms Kanchana Chomchuen, said that as she was preparing food she had seen Mr Butter hanging onto the railing as though he was drunk. She watched as he fell.

 

She assumed he was drunk and left him there. It was only when she was packing up for the night that she went across to try and wake him, only to realize he was dead.

 

Officers are assuming he had gone to the pharmacy to buy more asthma spray only to find it closed, had a seizure and died outside.

The body has been sent for autopsy to establish the cause of death.

 

Source: http://pattayaone.news/en/german-dies-as-locals-assume-he-is-drunk-and-leave-him-on-the-ground/

 

-- © Copyright Pattaya One 2016-10-05

Sad case...maybe if there weren't so many actual drunk farangs around town, the Thais wouldn't have reason to make these assumptions. 

Maybe if society had a little more compassion, people laying on the ground foaming at the mouth wouldn't be ignored and perhaps might even survive their ordeal.

Its very easy to criticize in circumstances like this, but difficult to come to a reasonable action by a witness.

 

Who wants the abusive rantings (in most cases) from a drunken foreigner they are trying to help? The food vendor's mind was already made up that he was just drunk.

 

Again, very sad if he was trying to get medication at the time. RIP kind Sir.

 

49 minutes ago, Pomthai said:

Maybe if society had a little more compassion, people laying on the ground foaming at the mouth wouldn't be ignored and perhaps might even survive their ordeal.

 

   As it was dark and the nendor was at a distance away, she probably didnt see that he was foaming at the mouth and the vendor did go and assist him a bit later .

 

Yes I think it's safe to assume they thought he was drunk, they will have seen it plenty of times. And as for compassion I once went for an extended bike ride, I began to feel unwell, so stopped to lay down at the side of the road and the amount of Thais that stopped to see if I was ok was amazing.

It's just unfortunate. Initially thought she should have made an effort, but at 3:30am in Pattaya when drunks are the norm etc...

 

I have been helped/offered help by Thais on many occasions over the years (broad daylight to the dead of night) and have been bowled over by the generosity of spirit.

If he passed out due to a closed airway (severe asthma) there was not much that could have been done anyhow. But it is very sad nobody bothered to help.

Not uncommon in the written history of Man.

 

That's what they called 'dead drunk'...

4 hours ago, Pomthai said:

Maybe if society had a little more compassion, people laying on the ground foaming at the mouth wouldn't be ignored and perhaps might even survive their ordeal.

Please read the post above yours...

 

also foaming at the mouth... the vendor did not say she saw foaming at the mouth, that was a comment made by the doctor examining the body.

 

unfortunately most people may have took him for another drunk who could not hold their liquor. 

The asthma sprayer is not crucial evidence unless he died of asthma. It's only evidence that he had asthma. 

Sounds more like an Epileptic seizure. Most types of asthma inhalers do not run out suddenly, I get up to 20 half puffs out of mine before its empty. Frothing at the mouth is usually associated with Epilepsy. Not a nice way to go. Cannot blame the Thai's in my experience they are usually most helpful to foreigners.

I agree. Frothing doesn't sound like asthma. But typical quick and easy detective work here based on superficial conclusions based on meds found.

The food vendor only had to make a phone call not give mouth to mouth 

" Officers are assuming  ...."

 

Thai police work and reporting at its best.

Thai's? compassion?

10 hours ago, webfact said:

 

Officers crucially discovered

 

lol

 Wow, I didn't know there were so many medical examiners  and forensic  investigators reading this post !

 :-)

1 hour ago, Penicillin said:

 Wow, I didn't know there were so many medical examiners  and forensic  investigators reading this post !

 :-)

Don't need to be to realize finding a common asthma inhaler (many millions of people in Thailand use them) on a corpse necessarily points to asthma as the cause of death. 

4 hours ago, licka said:

The food vendor only had to make a phone call not give mouth to mouth 

 

So who going to respond to "have a drunk here"?

 

The vendor saw what she thought was a drunk farang... who soon went quiet... she thought he was sleeping it off... a very common occurrence in Pattaya.

 

Fact is if he was choking by the time help arrived he probably would have been a goner anyway unless the chemist was open and the pharmacist knew what to do.

41 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Don't need to be to realize finding a common asthma inhaler (many millions of people in Thailand use them) on a corpse necessarily points to asthma as the cause of death. 

Correction: DOESN'T necessarily point

Sad state of affairs in a world of ME MYSELF AND I where people are teflon coated and no one cares about the other. However, if one does try to help another the risks of getting scammed or defrauded are always omnipresent. In a world where the values of non-accountability reign supreme what else can be expected. 

 

A man dies alone with no one to lend a hand.

 

Sadly enough,

 

Rest In Peace

Easy to bash the Thais but Pattaya is full of Farangs.  Did none at all pass where he was ?  If they did then Farangs and Thais reacted the same and just did not want a hassle with what seemed to be a drunk and possibly violent person (Farang or Thai)

On 05/10/2016 at 3:53 AM, OMGImInPattaya said:

Sad case...maybe if there weren't so many actual drunk farangs around town, the Thais wouldn't have reason to make these assumptions. 

Yeah, in my case I thought I had a dead Thai guy on the street and it turned out he was just drunk sleeping it off in the rain.

On 5-10-2016 at 11:02 AM, vogie said:

Yes I think it's safe to assume they thought he was drunk, they will have seen it plenty of times. And as for compassion I once went for an extended bike ride, I began to feel unwell, so stopped to lay down at the side of the road and the amount of Thais that stopped to see if I was ok was amazing.

come on they were just checking if you were dead so they could steal all your belongings. (Thaivisa mode on)

This could and does happen anywhere that drunkenness is a very common sight, I don't hold her responsible at all, and I hope she is OK about it. RIP young man.

2 hours ago, robblok said:

come on they were just checking if you were dead so they could steal all your belongings. (Thaivisa mode on)

You could be correct, and the woman that gave me some water to drink was actually trying to drown me.

2 minutes ago, vogie said:

You could be correct, and the woman that gave me some water to drink was actually trying to drown me.

(that is the spirit .. i was sarcastic because here Thais are always bad)

5 minutes ago, robblok said:

(that is the spirit .. i was sarcastic because here Thais are always bad)

I realised that, from what I have seen there are more good than bad.

Pulmonary edema by the sound of it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulmonary_edema

 

Shopkeepers aren't doctors in any event and can't be blamed for thinking it was just some guy who was a bit tipsy.