Drunken cop is no laughing matter

Somchai Songklod, whose stage name is "Jakkaboom Chernyim", discovered that not all members of his audience in Bangkok on Friday night found his jokes funny. A drunk policeman reportedly pointed a pistol at his head after being upset by one of his jokes.

Metropolitan Police Area 1 chiefs |may set up a panel to review the case. Officials said the officer could be fired if found guilty of pointing a gun at Somchai's head.

The 31-year-old comedian from the TV show "Ban Nee Mee Rak" filed a complaint at 11.30pm on Friday with Taling Chan police. It said a half-uniformed" policeman pointed a gun at his head in a restaurant on Ratchapreuk Road, where he does a show on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

Somchai said he had mocked customers that they should not get drunk because they could drive to a police checkpoint and face the same fate as comedian Arun Pawilai, who recently made headlines for refusing to have his breath tested for alcohol.

After he got off the stage, a drunken man in white shirt, khaki trousers with a gun on his waist asked him what kind of joke he had just made, the comic recalled. The man then pulled out a gun and pointed it at his head, saying "Do you want to die [for mak-ing such a joke]? I'll shoot you dead."

Customers and staff separated the pair, before the man walked out to his motorbike, which fell over, allegedly because he was drunk. People then surrounded him to stop the man leaving. The drunken man later identi-fied as Lance Corporal Uthit Tipsri of Dusit Police Station. He was apprehended by police officers on patrol, but initially claimed that he didn't have a gun.

During an interview with Somchai |at Taling Chan Police Station, Uthit's supervi-sor Lt Colonel Thaveep Warapongkhiri asked Somchai to forgive Uthit for his impulsive action if he apologised on Uthit's behalf. But Somchai said he wanted them to press a charge of attempted murder.

"How can a police officer carrying a weapon bully innocent people? If that moment, he pulled the trigger out of drunk-enness, my life would end and what would happen to my family? If he hit me with his fists or assaulted me, I might consider drop-ping the charges, but I find what he did was unacceptable," the comedian said.

Taling Chan police ended up charged Uthit with attempted murder and carrying a gun in a public place without sound reason. Metropolitan Police Area 1 commander Maj General Wichai Sangprapai said he had urged Taling Chan police to report the case to him so he could assign |a fact-finding committee to look into it. |If Uthit was guilty as accused, he would be dismissed from the civil service, he said.