National police chief Somyot Pumpunmuang has awarded 3,000 baht to a policeman who carried an elderly man across a Bangkok bridge on Sunday.
"The purpose of the award is to motivate and boost the morale of an officer who looks after the people and improves our image. Restoring the people's faith in the police is one of our policies, and the officer has set an example for others," Pol Gen Somyot said on Monday.
Pol Sen Sgt Maj Worapong Boonthawee, of the Pak Khlong San police station, told reporters that he received a report from the police 191 radio centre that an elderly man seemed to be lost on Phra Pok Klao Bridge.
"I went to the bridge and saw the man. He seemed oblivious to his surroundings and I was afraid that a car would hit him. I decided to carry him across to the other side of the bridge. The distance was about 400 metres," Pol Sen Sgt Maj Worapong.
He asked the man for his home address, but he could not remember it. The officer then sought help from people in the area nearby. A motorcycle taxi driver told him he knew where the elderly man lived.
The officer gave 50 baht to the motorcycle taxi driver to take the elderly man back home.
He said he also took pictures of himself carrying the elderly man so he could report it to his superior, but was not aware that similar photos spread rapidly on the internet, and that his good deed won wide praise.