Monk’s divine intervention calms drunk Russian man causing chaos in Pattaya
A Thai monk used divine intervention to control a drunk, out-of-control Russian man causing chaos on a street in Soi Chalerm Prakiat 19 in Pattaya by tapping the lid of his alms bowl on the foreign man’s head. The monk said the lid tapping was his way to encourage people to remain calm.
The 26 year old Russian man, Rusten Davletov, was drunk and trying to use a key to get into several vehicles parked along Soi Chalerm Prakiat 19. CCTV footage released by Channel 3 yesterday, October 19, also showed Davletov taking off his shirt and approaching locals living in a residential building along the road.
A Thai shopkeeper on the street told Channel 3 that Davletov had not hurt anyone and had not been violent. He was just trying to get into the cars along the road with a key. When he could not get into one, he moved to another and kept going.
Locals tried to stop him but he ignored them, so they reached out to Mueang Pattaya Police Station to ask officers to arrest the foreigner.
According to the vendor, a monk was passing by the scene to receive food offerings as usual. The Russian man walked up to the monk and sat down in front of him.
The monk then tapped the foreigner’s head with the lid of his alms bowl. Surprisingly, the man calmed down and sat on the road waiting for the police to arrive.
Tapping the lid for encouragement
The vendor added that the monk was from Chai Monkhon Temple. Channel 3 reporters visited the temple to interview the monk.
The monk, later identified as Phra Maha Prayun Dhammakamo, revealed that he usually tapped the lid on people’s heads after the food offerings. He did this to encourage people to remain calm.
Phra Maha Prayun explained that he used this action to encourage people because it occurred to him before he entered the monkhood. A monk tapped him on the head and made him feel better. When he became a monk, he wanted others to feel the same and decided to follow the action.
Phra Maha Prayun recounted the incident that day and said that he saw that the Russian man’s face looked very sad and confused. He wanted to cheer him up so he tapped the lid on his head. He found that the man looked calmer after his action but he had no idea of the chaos the man had caused before he met him.
Even though Davletov did not cause any harm or damage to the locals or their property, he still faces charges for overstaying. Davletov arrived in Thailand on September 18 and his visa expired on October 17. He will be punished before being deported from the country.
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