A U.S. citizen has been arrested after allegedly performing a sex act outside a bar in front of dozens of revellers. Ben Bartanyi, 49, is accused of carrying out the intimate act on a 20-year-old bar worker during a night out in Pattaya, Thailand, on Friday. Shocking footage appears to show a man walking up to the woman, who appears to be lying on a metal bar, before engaging in the act. A woman then appears to walk up to the pair, spraying the man with water and making ‘shooing’ gestures with her hand.
Police arrested Bartanyi for public indecency after the video was posted on social media. More than 100,000 people had watched it by Sunday morning, according to Khaosod English. The woman allegedly told officers she could not remember what had happened and only filed a complaint when she saw the footage.
Pattaya City Police Station chief Sukthat Pumpanmuang told the website that Bartanyi had admitted he was the man. He was also said to have apologized for his actions. The investigation is believed to still be ongoing. Dozens of people took to social media to criticise the incident, which occurred during Songkran, a festival celebrating Thai New Year. The video has since been removed from YouTube but is still circulating on social media.
