The mother of a patient who was shot dead by a police officer in Surin Provincial Hospital on Friday is seeking justice through the media, questioning whether the officer had overreacted and why about 20 security guards could not cope with her son.
Speaking to reporters today, at a funeral service held at her house in Chumsaeng sub-district, 56-year-old Pranee Banthoeng recalled that her son, 26-year-old Pichai, was rushed to Chom Phra Hospital by ambulance on the night of January 1st, after he had been vomiting for almost the whole day and had experienced convulsions.
A doctor at the hospital diagnosed him as suffering from appendicitis and had him transferred to Surin provincial hospital the next morning, where he underwent surgery.
Pranee told the doctor that Pichai had a record of convulsions and the doctor administered medication to deal with the condition, adding that her son kept on mumbling and shaking his hand in an attempt to remove the saline drip from his arm.
She also said that a nurse had administered medication to calm him down but, about 10 minutes after this, he woke up and removed the intravenous (IV) catheter and started shouting.
Pichai is reported to have grabbed an axe, but did not hurt any patients or staff. Nurses started shouting, leading to commotion on the ward.
The drama ended when Pichai was shot by a police officer.
Pranee said that her son might have gone berserk, but had not hurt caused injury to anyone else, adding that she does not understand why the officer had to shoot him four times, with one shot entering his lung.
She also asked why the police do not have non-lethal means to deal with a person in a fit of anger or going berserk and why 20 security guards could not handle the situation.
