A Facebook user will be charged with cyber crimes for posting a photo of a Bangkok cop wearing his comfy home shorts and allegedly misrepresenting what happened.
Police officer Somkasem Charak filed a slander suit Tuesday after someone posted photos of him wearing a police motorcycle helmet, white undershirt and fashionably rumpled Khaki shorts, and suggested the officer was dressed unprofessionally.
Pongthon Conrung said the photo was taken as the officer booted his car and issued a parking ticket at Wat Ratchanatdaram. The photo spread online where it was held up by netizens as yet another example of Bangkok’s finest, who enjoy a less than sterling reputation with the general public. Closer to oxidized copper, in fact.
“You said you’re dressing like this because you’re off duty?” Pongthon wrote. “But how come you had the right to issue a ticket and boot my car? How can society survive if its legal protectors behave like this?”
According to the police, the officer was actually being helpful after finishing his shift, and Pongthon is full of it.
Pongthon completely distorted the truth, a police spokesperson said yesterday. He will be prosecuted under the computer crimes act, which shields the internet from all untruths, no matter the source.
“The fact is this car was parked in a prohibited area on May 31. The officer issued a parking ticket and booted the car during his shift until hours later the car’s owner paid the fine at the station,” according to the spokesperson. “The officer had finished his shift, so he was called back to unlock the car to facilitate the driver while in his casual attire.”
Their version suggests Pongthon was just being a vindictive dick for getting his car booted. They also say he paid the fine at 6:12pm, which would have given Somkasem fewer than 30 minutes to unboot the car, as indicated by the lighting of the photo.
“That’s why (the officer) was not in the uniform, he just wanted to facilitate,” the police response read. “But the poster meant to abuse the truth and cause disgrace to the officer and the police profession, so he was ultimately reported!”
Plot, twisted?
