A Canadian tourist has spoken out after a drunk German visitor was tasered by Bangkok police following a racist confrontation on a popular backpacker strip.
Marsala Gueye, 34, of Toronto, told ViralPress that he and two friends from Australia were seated at a restaurant on Khao San Road when the intoxicated man approached their table on September 10. The encounter began around 8 a.m. And quickly spiraled into what Gueye described as a barrage of Nazi propaganda and racial slurs.
The man attempted to join the group and tried to share a book about Adolf Hitler with them, Gueye said. When they asked him to leave them alone, he refused. “He did not listen, and the situation eventually escalated. He became aggressive, made racist remarks and repeatedly used the N-word,” Gueye recounted.
The tourist later returned and tried to hand Gueye a mug, which one of his friends recognized as bearing a Nazi swastika symbol. After the friends confronted him about his behavior, the man’s aggression intensified. The group moved across the street to distance themselves, but he continued to follow them.
Gueye said he also witnessed the man smash a Jack Daniel’s bottle and become physically aggressive with one of the men in their group. “He was repeatedly using racist slurs and making offensive remarks towards us,” Gueye added. The group also observed that the man was carrying luggage containing numerous Hitler- and Nazi-related items.
Footage from the scene shows the tourist, wearing a Hawaiian shirt, lying on the pavement and shouting slogans praising Adolf Hitler while performing Nazi salutes toward Gueye’s group. At one point, the tourists respond, “Say it one more time,” and the man yells out the N-word, salutes Hitler again, and shouts, “Kanye West is my f–ing brother.”
Locals had already called police, fearing the confrontation might turn into a brawl. In a subsequent clip, the visibly enraged tourist charges toward Gueye as four officers arrive and surround him. Gueye can be heard telling officers, “get him away from me or I will f–k him up,” while others urge them to arrest the man.
One officer initially approached Gueye’s group, appearing to assume they were the aggressors. However, Gueye’s friend in a white shirt spoke to the officer and pointed out that the man in the Hawaiian shirt was the one causing trouble. As the drunk tourist continued to pursue them, an officer drew a taser and fired, sending an electric shock through the man’s body and causing him to collapse as police surrounded him.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Komonsit Sawatmongkol, Deputy Superintendent of Patrol at Chanasongkhram Police Station, which covers Khao San Road, told ViralPress that officers did not arrest the German tourist. “The police officers intervened and separated both parties. At that time, they did not know who had started the incident, who was the suspect, who was the victim or what they had been arguing about,” he said.
Sawatmongkol noted that the German appeared “a little dizzy or possibly intoxicated” and that officers instructed both parties to separate. “Both parties said that there was nothing more to it and that the matter was over. They did not appear to want to hold a grudge or press charges, so both sides went home,” he continued.
However, Gueye visited the police station later that same day to file a formal complaint. Officers maintained that “no violence was witnessed” when they arrived at the scene. “The patrol officers did not witness any punching or physical assault,” Sawatmongkol added. “They only saw the two parties throwing bottles at each other without hitting each other, so we did not have information at the time about who had started the incident or who had committed an offence.”
The alleged victims did not return to provide additional statements to the duty officer, according to police. “We do not have details about exactly what was said during the incident,” Sawatmongkol said. Authorities indicated the incident is not being investigated further.
