Student Charged With Assault For Kicking 15-Year-Old Into Coma

Pisit Kumniw in a coma. Photo: Panuwat Songsawatchai / Facebook
Pisit Kumniw in a coma. Photo: Panuwat Songsawatchai / Facebook

NAKHON PATHOM — A student has been charged with physical assault for allegedly kicking a 15-year-old underclassman into a coma, according to an anti-hazing activist on Wednesday.

Police are keeping mum on the details of the suspects involved in the assault on Pisit Kumniw, a Matthayom 3 student at Phra Pathom Wittayalai School. Although one of the three suspects has been reportedly charged with physical assault as of Wednesday, the other two have not.

“They won’t show me the police report,” Panuwat Songsawatchai, a member of anti-hazing activist group Anti Sotus and a Future Forward Party member, said by phone Monday. “Two of the three attackers are also policemen’s sons.”

Panuwat fears the other two students involved in the attack may get off the hook and “run away” due to the suspected ties to the police. The pair are brothers: one is a Matthayom 3 student, the other a Matthayom 6 student. Panuwat said all three of the alleged assaulters have given testimony to the police. He added that the charged suspect is not one of the brothers.

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However, police refused to respond to Panuwat’s claims of nepotism.

Police Capt. Thanachote Chinnawongsa, when asked about the suspects and their relations to the police, said he could not comment on an ongoing investigation.

Meanwhile, Pisit’s health continues to decline. On June 28, he was assaulted as part of a hazing tradition under the SOTUS creed (Seniority, Order, Tradition, Unity, Spirit), where he was supposed to receive a class bracelet after getting kicked three times.

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“First, his lungs were bruised and his brain swelled. Now his other organs are leaking,” Panuwat said. “He probably won’t make it through next week.”

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High Schooler Kicked Into Coma During SOTUS Hazing, Family Says