A man smashed the window of a pickup truck after he saw an able-bodied couple park the vehicle in a spot reserved for the handicapped people. The incident occured at Big C in Bandu Chiang Rai on Saturday night.
Peerapong Amornpich posted a Facebook message with a video clip on Saturday. Saying he decided to smash a window of the pickup truck parked in the handicapped spot to teach the driver a lesson.
Mr Peerapong wrote on Facebook that he saw the couple emerge from the vehicle, neither of who were disabled. He wrote that he was unable to chase after them because he was with his family.
He then asked Big-C to make a public announcement that the driver had parked in the wrong area.
After having a meal with his family, Mr Peerapong returned to the same location and found the vehicle was still there.
This is when he decided to smash the drivers side window.
On his facebook page he wrote. “I smashed the window because the driver, who was not disabled, parked in a spot for the disabled. I am ready to pay for the damage, but I could not just let this happen in Thai society while doing nothing.”
When the driver and a woman returned to the truck, Mr Peerapong was waiting for them. He explain his actions and immediately took financial responsibility.
The driver defended himself by saying he had not seen the blodly marked handicapped designation sign. “I apologised,” he said. “But why couldn’t we have settled the problem by talking?”
The driver also said he did not hear the public announcement asking him to move his vehicle. However Mr Peerapong and a Big C staff member insisted the announcement had been made.
The issue was settled when Mr Peerapong agreed to pay the driver 10,000 baht at a police station.
Accessibility Is Freedom, a website campaigning for the handicapped said, on Sunday. The incident should be a “wake-up call” for all venues and public to pay serious attention to handicapped parking spaces.
The group said it opposed the use of violence as a means to raise awareness of the rights of the disabled.
