Maj Thada Sodarat of Chalong Police was call to investigate an incident on Wichet Rd in Rawai just after midnight where it had been reported a 59-year-old German man had his pickup truck smashed up and one of his friends was assaulted by a group of teenage street racers.
Police arrived at the scene, a unknown resort on Wichet Rd, to find Mr Kiesl Stegfried, 59, and three of his friends, including two Thai women, waiting for an ambulance to arrive. Mr Stegfried had suffered scratches his right arm and leg and had bruises all over his body after being knocked down by one of the street racers.
Mr Stegfried led police to his damaged pick up truck and said, “The group of teenagers surrounded my truck, they kicked and smacked the driver’s door, the back of the vehicle and broke the side mirror.”
He explained to police that he and his friends had walked across the street in front of a restaurant on Rawai beach road going back to his truck when they came across a group of between 7-10 street racers.
“One of them rode his bike into me causing me to fall over. I knew that they were all teenagers, and as I'm only a tourist here I did not try to confront them. An official from Rawai Municipality showed up to question us but i wanted the matter left alone.
“I left with my friends and returned to our resort which is about three kilo from where the incident took place,” Mr Stegfried said.
Mr Stegfried went on to say that thought that the mater was over, but when he pulled up at the resort he realised the group had followed him.
“They started yelling at us and banging on the door of the truck, others from the group then started to smash my truck,” he said.
“One of my Thai friends got out of the vehicle and tried to talk to them, but one teen kicked her. Staff from the resort ran out to help and the group dispersed,” he added.
Maj Thada Sodarat said, “The hotel staff told us that they had CCTV footage of the group damaging the vehicle and assaulting the Thai woman.
“Mr Stegfried said that at first he wanted to forget about the incident because he only suffered minor injuries. But the fact that the group followed him to the resort, damaged his truck and assaulted his friend is unacceptable,” he said.
“I ordered officers to look for the group after they had checked CCTV footage, but they could not find them on the street.
“We will check CCTV from along Wichet Rd with the aim of finding out their licence plates. I believe they are local teenagers and officers already have some of their names.
“Most of them are students and I was told they often raced along Wichet Rd, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. We will find them soon before they cause more damage to residents and tourists,” Maj Thada Sodarat concluded.