Phuket Bag Snatch Boy Dies: Police Pursue Hit-Run Killer
By Chutima Sidasathian Thursday, March 14, 2013
PHUKET: A Phuket boy who took part in a bag-snatch only to become the victim of a hit-run while making his motorcycle getaway has died in hospital.
Pongsakorn Bawtangtansakul, 16, was riding the Scoopy motorcycle that collided with a vehicle immediately after his pillion rider snatched the bag of a Singaporean tourist on Monday.
Police now have an added reason to find the driver of the vehicle who drove on after the crash about 8.30pm on the road between Patong and Karon.
The Singaporean woman tourist, who stayed on her motorcycle despite having her bag stolen, has since flown home, say investigating police.
Khun Pongsakorn had been in the intensive care unit at Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket City, where he died at 10am yesterday.
The 15-year-old boy who took part in the robbery with Khun Pongsakorn is still in Vachira Phuket where he is being treated for broken legs and other injuries. He is expected to recover.
A police officer was on duty at Vachira Phuket guarding the boys. Police have yet to lay charges against the surviving bag-snatcher, who cannot be named because he is under age.
The crash took place on the Phuket west coast road close to the entrance to Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort.
An s-bend near the resort turnoff is notoriously dangerous, and that's where the boys decided to jump the tourist before speeding off towards Patong.
Khun Pongsakorn has become a road toll victim but Phuketwan is unable to report the tally of deaths and injuries so far this year or for the whole of 2012 because figures are no longer being released.
The same applies to drowning figures on Phuket. No Public Health updates have been made available since April 2012.
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Comments
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If both vehicles actually collided there should be paint, can the police issue the color of the vehicle, they should also be able to identify the make based on the color?
Posted by
coxo
on
March 14, 2013 09:53
Let's hopr the police don't look too hard, shame they both didn't die...
Posted by
terry
on
March 14, 2013 10:21
Editor Comment:
And that, Terry, is your last comment on this site. Goodbye, you heartless creep.
Broken arms and legs would have been enough punishment already... R.I.P.
Posted by
Jakub
on
March 14, 2013 10:51
@Ed: to call someone a heartless creep, is that not a bit over reacting? Terry, maybe ment that all criminals, young or old, should be aware that there are risks for themself, as well as for their victims. If the Singaporean woman had collided with the car, and would have died, and the criminals got away, or in a later stage, caught, get a slap on the wrist, and move on, what would have been the reactions then?
Posted by
Charles
on
March 14, 2013 10:58
Editor Comment:
I am sure other readers can answer your question, Charles. But as you know, we don't indulge in pointless guesswork, nor do we encourage expressions of violence. Terry has a problem we don't wish to share.
Well said Editor. Terrible news for everyone. I hope they find the hit and run driver. These hit and runs are starting to go up in numbers. We were hit the other day and the guy tried to drive off. Cowards at best. I wish the family of the young man well in dealing with losing a child.
Posted by
jay leshark
on
March 14, 2013 11:03
i passed the accident site half hour after the crash. there was some glass on the road. now go check cctv for a car with no window on it's right side.
Posted by
dawhit
on
March 14, 2013 11:45
I previously felt no sympathy but this is a unexpected and very sad turn of events.
Posted by
slickmelb
on
March 14, 2013 11:52
RIP young boy.
Very sad and cruel turn of events set in motion by two stupid idiot teenagers themselves.
"the victim of a hit-run" ? Was the driver of the car trying to "stop" them after seeing them snatch the bag? Or did they steer into oncoming traffic, because the deceased rode to fast and lost it in the curves? I thought it was the later. Then he hit himself on the run...
Posted by
Lena
on
March 14, 2013 12:53
Never get on the wrong side of Karma...It is a... well, you know. Toooo bad for the thief...RIP.
Posted by
Ted Davis
on
March 14, 2013 14:22
Ed I 100% agree with you - Terry, you are sick, what the boys did was not good but taking into consideration their age does not make them bad people. To wish another young boy dead you must be a very bitter person. Apart from the general readers on this site what about if the family or friends of the boys read a comment like that. It is a shame that there is not a law in Thailand so the Police could lock you up for saying such a terrible thing.
Posted by
Happy Farang
on
March 14, 2013 15:08
I would not wish death on anyone as that is a tad too extreme, broken legs or a disability and jailterm would be enough punishment for a lifetime for a bag snatch.
Kids veered into the car's path, driver should have stopped as it was not his fault and could not be avoided.
Then again, with the justice system in Phuket now that the boy has died and vigilante citizens who likes taking things into their own hands, who knows what offence the driver would be slapped with if he stayed.
Posted by
May
on
March 14, 2013 15:15
Editor Comment:
He, or she . . .
I have said it before and I will say it again there should be a mandatory jail sentence for people that do not stop after an accident.
Posted by
Happy Farang
on
March 14, 2013 15:16
Hi ed. Rough outcome for the rider. Maybe the cameras could help the police tell the readers of PW, the colour and make of vehicle that hit the kid? Then we may be able to find the driver of the vehicle? There are always two sides to a story, let the driver tell theirs ?
Posted by
Robin
on
March 14, 2013 15:56
Editor Comment:
The color and make of the vehicle isn't known.
Most of the drivers who flee the scene of an accident probably need a bit of time to clear the alcohol or drugs out of their system before they give themselves up. This particular driver may have had a few drinks in Patong and the accident may not have been his/her fault at all but because of the alcohol in his/her blood, then he/she would have been held fully to blame.
Posted by
chill
on
March 14, 2013 16:41
In my previous post, I gave a som nam naa to these 2 thieves for their hit/run accident. Sorry to hear that 1 of them died but I have to say that now I hope youngsters will think twice before committing a crime.
Posted by
paul
on
March 14, 2013 18:11
Editor Comment:
Thanks, paul. Wishing evil on people is never helpful.
For all the bleeding hearts liberals - including the editor - try running your sympathies for the dead thief past Douglas Riach whose wife was killed during a bag snatch in Bangkok in 2009.
For those who object to others expressing their opinions (it's still a democracy and freedom of speech is still allowed isn't Ed, or only your voice?) have a look at the photos here and then pass the same comments.
Scottish expat Lydia Riach critical in Bangkok after bag-snatch.
Posted by
John
on
March 14, 2013 19:46
Editor Comment:
People who make assumptions about others and group them in pigeon holes have a problem with their thinking processes, John. Just as all people are individuals, so every abuse of civil law, include bag-snatches, has different causes and different outcomes. Opinions based on ignorance and guesswork are, as always, of no consequence in a democracy. They do tend to flourish, however, in dictatorships. I suggest you give up on assumption-making and try thinking instead.
To the editor (ed). Are you Thai? Anybody that intervenes on these roads in Phuket is putting the lives of people for death. I have seen so many dead people on the roads here over the years. Do you actually feel sorry for this kid that died? I would like to know? Show some balls and respond!
Posted by
Bruce
on
March 14, 2013 20:50
Editor Comment:
Bigots and racists tend to ask those kinds of questions, Bruce, because that's the kind of priority they have in going through life. You display the other false values you hold dear in the rest of your comment.
Editor & all people who reacted before me. My comment might be only Slightly relevant but like I suggested before: Hit & Run should mean automatically never a valid liscence again or at all!
(Maybe they drive away because they had no license at all).
Posted by
PhuketGreed
on
March 14, 2013 23:23
Dear editor. You did not answer my question. I have lived here many years and have zero Thai friends. Zero. Why do think this is? I feel for the death of the young man. I myself had trouble at that age. Crime here is similar to where I come from. But the roads here are just stupid. Worse every year. How would you propose to fix this? Why not ban all cars, buses, dumptrucks and just allow scooters? You got hear 10 year olds driving on your roads high on speed. It is too much to handle anymore.
The beaches suck, polluted and Thai's saying every Farang is a tourist! When I go back to my place of birth and run in to a Thai National I will call him or her a tourist. So back to my question. Are you Thai?
Posted by
Bruce
on
March 15, 2013 02:16
Editor Comment:
People say I have a Thai heart, Bruce.
Editor, I have a "human" heart too. It is given me by some-one else. All hearts have the same color and they are only temporarily functional & present. Most people can and will only use them on this planet. To give a heart a countries "tattoo" or marker is already wrong. You maybe can give your brain the order or feel in a certain way, but that might become quickly the reason why think in different ways and become the cause off differences & misunderstanding. We all come from One & the same place. By most called Mother Earth. We should all be living and under protection off the same Hunan Rights.
By the Way I do Love, like & miss Thailand too.
Posted by
PhuketGreed
on
March 15, 2013 12:58
Editor Comment:
Thais have hundreds more phrases and definitions relating to ''heart'' than Innuit have for snow. Don't let it worry you.
The kid with the broken legs is not in a coma, so why don't the police ask him if he can recall the colour or make of vehicle that they hit? Or did he bite his tongue off and unable to write? If the vehicle was a black pickup with severe scratches down the right rear fender of the load bed, then we might know the driver?
Posted by
Robin
on
March 15, 2013 14:01
Editor Comment:
If you are going to indulge in guesswork, my guess would be that there's a better than 50-50 chance he was looking back over his shoulder and didn't know what hit him.
Guesswork ED? You are doing the guessing now, have you asked the kid what he was doing at the time of the accident?
Posted by
Robin
on
March 15, 2013 14:37
Editor Comment:
We'll let the investigating police do their job. Why don't you?
"I have lived here many years and have zero Thai friends. Zero."
Sounds like it is time to go home, Bruce.
Posted by
matt
on
March 15, 2013 14:59
If it was the Singaporean lady who had been the victim, killed while trying to keep her bag, this would be another matter entirely. Those kids wouldn't give a fiddlers if she went off the road and died, or got slammed by an oncoming vehicle while giving them chase. My sympathy here is not with the snatchers, the outcome of their actions could have resulted in the death of an innocent woman.
Posted by
geoff
on
March 16, 2013 09:34
Editor Comment:
Reading minds is a special skill, geoff. There is no way of knowing what the snatchers would have thought. There was no loss of life other than one of the snatchers. Pointless guessing about woulds, coulds and ifs . . .
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If both vehicles actually collided there should be paint, can the police issue the color of the vehicle, they should also be able to identify the make based on the color?
Posted by coxo on March 14, 2013 09:53