Russian man attacks Thai couple for honking at him in Phuket
The foreign man who attacked a Thai motorcyclist and his girlfriend for honking at him as he crossed a road in Phuket was identified as a Russian national. The foreigner reportedly crossed the road when the pedestrian signal turned red.
The Thai woman, Pimpapan, shared the details of the attack by the foreign man with the news Facebook page Phuket Times yesterday, February 4. The media briefly reported that Pimpapan honked her motorcycle’s horn at the foreign man while he was crossing the road, which angered him.
The foreign man reportedly stopped walking in front of her motorcycle, prompting her to honk at him again. Suddenly, after the second honk, the foreigner approached and assaulted her before walking away into a dark alley.
Pimpapan told the media that she chose not to chase after the foreign man for her safety and instead rushed to the police station to file a complaint. She insisted that she had a video of the incident clearly showing the foreign man’s identity but the case had gone nowhere.
Some netizens sided with Pimpapan, saying the foreign man should not have physically assaulted anyone just because of a car horn. However, some argued that Pimpapan should not have honked at a pedestrian crossing the road and should have stopped her vehicle instead.
An update on the case, reported by Channel 8, revealed that Pimpapan was not the motorcycle rider but it was her boyfriend. Both were physically assaulted in the incident, and the foreign man was identified as a Russian national.
Police’s inaction
Channel 8 shared footage of the incident recorded by the couple. The video showed Pimpapan’s boyfriend arguing with the Russian man in English before the foreigner switched to speaking Russian and complaining to the Thai motorcyclist in his native language. At one point in the video, the Thai man was heard saying…
“Speak English! I’m going to call the police. If you run away, I will call the police.”
The Russian man then began recording a video of the Thai couple while speaking to them in Russian before walking away.
Pimpapan explained in the video that the foreigner assaulted them after they honked at him while he was crossing the road when the traffic light for pedestrians turned red. At the end of the video, the Thai motorcyclist is seen calling the police to report the assault.
The motorcyclist told Channel 8 that the police could not obtain footage of the incident from CCTV cameras at the scene because the cameras were broken. Officers instead asked the couple to seek footage from Phuket Municipality’s CCTV cameras on their own.
The couple said they felt neglected and believed the police could have helped them contact the municipality but failed to do so. He added that if the foreigner had been the victim, the police would have acted more efficiently and swiftly.
As of now, police have not yet summoned both parties for questioning.
Latest Thailand News
