A video of an angry man yelling at a group of people behind his pickup truck and firing three threatening gunshots has sparked heated debate among Thai netizens.
The video clip, uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday by "smartpoe", shows the pickup truck driver standing next to another car and profanely berating the people around him.
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The person who posted the clip said a woman was driving to dinner with her daughter and relatives in Bangkok on Tuesday night. A pickup truck behind her car repeatedly flashed its headlights, demanding she give way.
The woman was unable to comply because she was approaching a curve, the poster said.
The pickup truck then drove around her vehicle and abruptly parked in front of it. The driver, whom the poster identified as Sgt Maj Nantawat Chainsom, then emerged from the vehicle with a pistol in his hand (not visible in the video) and walked towards her car and started shouting, according to the poster.
The woman's cousin, who was driving another vehicle behind them, stopped and got out to check the situation. The pickup truck driver then made threats, apparently fearing her cousin wanted to fight him. Her cousin then retreated to his own vehicle.
Sgt Maj Nantawat yelled, "You guys want to fight? Then get out of your car. I have already cleared things up with this woman. Why did you guys get out of your car at the first place? Not so tough now are you?"
The man then fired three rounds from his pistol into the ground before returning to his pickup, the poster said.
A netizen posted, "Why don't you post the whole incident? From the video it seems like the man was mad at the people in the other car who probably tried to gang up on him. They were lucky that the man kept his cool. Nice try fakers."
"Both sides were wrong. One acted tough because he had a gun while the other acted tough because they had more people," wrote another netizen.
Another poster wrote in reply to other netizens, "When off duty, soldiers don't have the right to carry firearms in public. Don't twist the story. I wonder what you guys would say if you or your family are in the same situation."
Another commented that the person who upload this video clip was biased, because the comments that criticised the woman and her cousin were quickly deleted.
"The clip was incomplete. Before the man pulled out his gun, people around him were looking to attack him. I wanted to see their faces," a commenter said.