German woman awaits trial in Phuket for jumping red light

[Pious]

Trying to show her superiority no doubt, bzzzzzzz failed

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[topt]

The 2 surprising things for me in this story are -

Who reported her jumping a red light and why (bearing in mind it happens all the time) - or how did the police "learn" about it?

Why did they react so quickly or even bother?

 

The answer to the first question would probably provide the answer to the second

[scorecard]

11 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Thais jump the red lights all the time with impunity and I have never heard of one being taken to court for it.

The real crime here was not wai'ing the police, so another wonderful news story for TAT to have to deal with and somehow twist.

 

"Thais jump the red lights all the time with impunity and I have never heard of one being taken to court for it." 

 

I have, our old very loud mouth illogical aunty does this all the time and at speed and she's caused several accidents, luckily none have been fatal. And she's totally refused to pay medical bills etc of people she's injured. In one case the local senior cop came and took another vehicle she owned (an expensive almost new Toyota sedan) and sold it and used the cash to pay medical bills and repair bills of her victims.

 

When stopped she tells the policeman (and the driver of the other vehicle):

 

'You don't know the law, which says that if someone in the car is a government employee or a relative of a government employee you have 5 extra seconds after the light has gone red.' 

 

And she has more illogical 'laws' she trots out when needed. And she has the ability to construct new illogical laws on the spot as needed. Additionally she says (illogical) that there is no law about driving, 'it's up to you and the police can't stop you from doing what you want to do'.

 

Bottom line:

 

- She's been fined several times for going through a red light and for using her phone while driving.

 

- She's been fined by the senior cop at 2 police stations, 10,000Baht for being abusive to the police.

 

- 99% of her immediate and extended family refuse to get in her car and refuse to let her get in their car, because she continuously yells at the driver to do things which are illegal and dangerous. 

 

- When family members have renovations or similar done, if she turns up she is ordered off the premises immediately before she has a chance to start abusing the workmen. 

 

- There is ongoing family collusion to deliberately tell her wrong dates for wedding parties etc., to keep her away.

[Old Croc]

15 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

"Thais jump the red lights all the time with impunity and I have never heard of one being taken to court for it." 

 

I have, our old very loud mouth illogical aunty does this all the time and at speed and she's caused several accidents, luckily none have been fatal. And she's totally refused to pay medical bills etc of people she's injured. In one case the local senior cop came and took another vehicle she owned (an expensive almost new Toyota sedan) and sold it and used the cash to pay medical bills and repair bills of her victims.

 

When stopped she tells the policeman (and the driver of the other vehicle):

 

'You don't know the law, which says that if someone in the car is a government employee or a relative of a government employee you have 5 extra seconds after the light has gone red.' 

 

And she has more illogical 'laws' she trots out when needed. And she has the ability to construct new illogical laws on the spot as needed. Additionally she says (illogical) that there is no law about driving, 'it's up to you and the police can't stop you from doing what you want to do'.

 

Bottom line:

 

- She's been fined several times for going through a red light and for using her phone while driving.

 

- She's been fined by the senior cop at 2 police stations, 10,000Baht for being abusive to the police.

 

- 99% of her immediate and extended family refuse to get in her car and refuse to let her get in their car, because she continuously yells at the driver to do things which are illegal and dangerous. 

 

- When family members have renovations or similar done, if she turns up she is ordered off the premises immediately before she has a chance to start abusing the workmen. 

 

- There is ongoing family collusion to deliberately tell her wrong dates for wedding parties etc., to keep her away.

Wow, sounds like her family should collude to get her the urgent medical treatment (mental)

required.

[delgarcon]

Off topic, but Stan would have fixed her!

 

[scorecard]

9 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

Wow, sounds like her family should collude to get her the urgent medical treatment (mental)

required.

 

True.

 

Actually my Thai adult son once, jokingly, suggested someone should use her character for a TV show.

[Old Croc]

We all know that thousands of drivers here (of all races for the apologists) regularly jump lights. If all were locked up, and held for court, they would need a stadium to keep them in.

This dopey woman went way beyond that simple misdemeanor and committed a number of legal and social offences. She's getting what she deserved.

 

Sometimes hastily stopping for orange lights can be the wrong thing to do as well.

 

 

[sanukjim]

14 hours ago, USPatriot said:

Should have thrown money at the  officer

Should not have tried to act as a higher up.Lady you are a guest here not a privileged person.Learn to behave.

[Bangkok Barry]

12 hours ago, smedly said:

For me that is just as bad if not worse than going through the red light, why is she not being charged for multiple offences

"What red light? I didn't see it. I was on the phone."

[steveyinasia]

If the BIB stopped every person who jumped a red light, they would indeed be very much richer.

[Happyman58]

Drove to Park this morning for walking Saw 2 scooters 4 cars 1 police  car go through red light Oh its ok they are Thai can do lol

[Psimbo]

Farang jumps light and ends up in court. Minibus driver smack out 4 vehicles and gets a B500 fine- gotta love it.

[stevenl]

10 minutes ago, Psimbo said:

Farang jumps light and ends up in court. Minibus driver smack out 4 vehicles and gets a B500 fine- gotta love it.

Agree with a previous poster, there is something strange about this. A car jumps a red light, the police gets called, 5!! officers rush over so fast they have to wait for the driver, and the driver then keeps on talking on the phone and refuses to leave the vehicle. After that she gets into a big time argument with the officers.

Edited March 29, 2017 by stevenl

[mrmicbkktxl]

15 hours ago, Berkshire said:

[“We asked Ms Grunewald to step out of the vehicle but she wouldn’t and continued to talk on the phone,” he said.

“After 15 minutes she finally came out of the car...]

 

These cops were pretty darn patient.  If this had happened in the USA, things would have gotten extremely unpleasant for Ms. Grunewald. 
 

Yeah probably shot her

[LivinginKata]

22 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Agree with a previous poster, there is something strange about this. A car jumps a red light, the police gets called, 5!! officers rush over so fast they have to wait for the driver, and the driver then keeps on talking on the phone and refuses to leave the vehicle. After that she gets into a big time argument with the officers.

It was an expensive BMW SUV - money to be made if Farang driving.

 

I have to agree -very strange for the BiB to 'go after' a red light runner.Something more to this than meets the eye.

[Ace of Pop]

Ello Ello ,I wiz driving my little tank to zee bunker .[emoji702]


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[superal]

15 hours ago, NamKangMan said:

 

A farang in a BMW on Phuket is a perfect target for extracting money.

 

Sounds like she refused to be extorted, so the situation escalated, thus, now becoming a lesson to all farang on Phuket - pay us with your money, or pay us with your freedom.  

Exactly  and the reason that Thais do not get hit is that the fines are so punitive and the police would be flat out every day . As you say the police saw money signs when spotting her and gonna cost her quite a few baht to get out of jail .The Thai law is renown for its flexibility on fines and punishment . 

[Sooo Upto Me]

17 hours ago, Berkshire said:

[“We asked Ms Grunewald to step out of the vehicle but she wouldn’t and continued to talk on the phone,” he said.

“After 15 minutes she finally came out of the car...]

 

These cops were pretty darn patient.  If this had happened in the USA, things would have gotten extremely unpleasant for Ms. Grunewald. 
 

Why does everyone hav to compare with the USA? Who cares, it would happen anywhere London, Paris, Geneva, Rome, Madrid.

[Berkshire]

6 minutes ago, Sooo Upto Me said:

Why does everyone hav to compare with the USA? Who cares, it would happen anywhere London, Paris, Geneva, Rome, Madrid.

Because I'm American.  I don't know what cops would do in London, Paris, Geneva, Rome, Timbuktu, etc.  US cops are also renown for having very little patience with dips like this woman and wouldn't hesitate to apply physical force--sometimes excessive--to subdue an unruly suspect. 

[abrahamzvi]

17 hours ago, Berkshire said:

[“We asked Ms Grunewald to step out of the vehicle but she wouldn’t and continued to talk on the phone,” he said.

“After 15 minutes she finally came out of the car...]

 

These cops were pretty darn patient.  If this had happened in the USA, things would have gotten extremely unpleasant for Ms. Grunewald. 
 

Things would have gotten extremely unpleasant for the lady even in her own country, Germany

[yardrunner]

18 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

German woman awaits trial in Phuket for jumping red light

Eakkapop Thongtub

 

 

PHUKET:-- A German woman is currently being held at Phuket Provincial Court where she is awaiting trial after being stopped by police when she jumped a red light in Chalong and then proceeded to throw a hissy fit at the officers who stopped her.

 

At 9:55am today (Mar 28), Chalong Police were informed that a car heading towards Chalong had jumped a red light at the junction for Sun Palm Village on Choa Fa East Rd.

 

After learning of the incident, Lt Thanakrit Eiamchonlakam of the Chalong Police together with four other officers promptly went to Chalong Circle and waited for the subject vehicle.

 

After a short while the vehicle arrived and was stopped by the officers.

 

Lt Thanakrit said, “The vehicle was a black Bangkok-registered BMW X1 and the driver was a German woman named Sandra Christiane Grunewald, 55. She was speaking on the telephone when we stopped her.

 

“We asked Ms Grunewald to step out of the vehicle but she wouldn’t and continued to talk on the phone,” he said.

 

Full Story: http://www.thephuketnews.com/german-woman-awaits-trial-in-phuket-for-jumping-red-light-61582.php#VpMs51pGaRgjXcjh.97

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2017-3-28

So that is traffic offence No2, as as far as I am aware driving while using a mobile phone is also illegal in Thailand but with what you see on the roads both laws only apply to non Thais

[Trujillo]

Isn't "jumping" the red light the wrong term? We say "jump the gun" meaning to start to soon, but in this case, she did not start too soon, she failed to stop, which means she "ran" a red light. Right? 

[Kinnock]

18 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

When asked if Ms Grunewald would be given bail, Lt Chanat replied, 'I don't think so, she is not very well connected !'

I must be having a 'blonde' day - as I checked back to the full report to see if he actually said this.  Shame he didn't, I thought we'd had an outbreak of honesty at the BIB.

[elgordo38]

17 hours ago, TommyUK1960 said:

Jumping red light is so common in Thailand. This German woman was also on the phone. So showing no respect to Policeman she should get a good slap from the courts. She wouldn't do this in Germany.

500 bahts for jumping the red light 500 bahts for talking on the phone while driving. 500 baht tip settles the whole affair. She must be relatively new here not to know the rules. Maybe she is well connected and thought she should get a freebie. We will never know I guess. Well back to the Red Bull case. 

[pcliff069]

Pretty much the standard x does it so all should be able to do it defense.

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[teelac5]

Sour kraut

[Jonmarleesco]

Well, she asked for it; especially talking on the phone, too. But 90% of Thais jump red lights, invariably blocking other traffic, which then invariably blocks the next change - but common sense, of course, doesn't figure in their driving culture. And a good percentage continue to ignore the mobile phone usage law, this despite the fact that there is no excuse for nit having and utilising hands-free.

[jacko45k]

This is perhaps where the BMW drivers bad reputation comes from.

Arrogant old lady....

[Valentine]

Judging by the photo she really went all out to get through the red light as she had to overtake a car which was stopped.

[Happyman58]

4 hours ago, Valentine said:

Judging by the photo she really went all out to get through the red light as she had to overtake a car which was stopped.

 

4 hours ago, Valentine said:

Judging by the photo she really went all out to get through the red light as she had to overtake a car which was stopped.

Maybe she been watching Thais do it that so she thought " what is good for the goose is good for the gander" Lol