Bar humbug! Foreign tourist brawls bruise Pattaya’s party scene
Punches flew, tempers flared and yet another black eye was dealt to Pattaya’s party scene today after a boozy bar bust-up between foreign tourists left three injured and police scrambling to track down the culprits behind the chaos.
A full-blown street scrap erupted outside a bar on Soi Chalermprakiat 25 in Nongprue, Bang Lamung district, Chon Buri, today, May 6, with three foreign nationals nursing bruises but refusing both medical help and to spill the beans to officers on the scene.
Despite their silence, Pattaya’s police weren’t about to let the matter drop, Pattaya News reported.
Police Colonel Anek Sathongyu, Superintendent of Pattaya City Police, along with Pol. Lt. Col. Arun Saphanon and the Tourist Police, launched a rapid investigation, poring over CCTV footage and chasing leads.
The battered bunch were later identified as German national Dominik Leupold, British man Jamie Lee Rocca, Swedish national Sture Mattias Arnkvist, and Cambodian Miss Py Pech. The man believed to have sparked the scuffle was Hallam Zachary Kalen, an Australian national.
With identities now confirmed, officers are racing to round up everyone involved for questioning and promised to press ahead “in a straightforward manner based on the evidence.”
But this isn’t an isolated incident, far from it.
Pattaya has been plagued by a recent spate of tourist trouble, including an April 27 dust-up between two British men and a group of Thai locals outside a convenience store. That flare-up reportedly began after the Brits almost collided with a motorcycle taxi rider, then allegedly hurled rubbish at him from their car window.
The rider followed them to the shop, where fists soon flew. Video of the bust-up was shared widely on Facebook by page เจ๊มอย v+ (Jamoi v+), drawing plenty of attention. The Brit duo were ultimately made to pay 15,000 baht in compensation.
And back in March, things turned ugly again near Dong Tan Beach in Jomtien, when two groups of foreign tourists got into yet another dust-up, this time requiring the Pattaya City Patrol and Jomtien Civic Guard to step in.
While two of the brawlers were nabbed and taken to Dong Tan Police Station, a couple on an Xmax scooter reportedly fled the scene, dodging local law enforcement in true tourist outlaw style.
As the punches keep coming, police are now under pressure to get a grip on the booze-fuelled bedlam that’s threatening to spoil the resort’s already fragile reputation.
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