A bodyguard brandishing a pistol assaulted a French national at lunchtime Wednesday following a minor traffic accident on Norodom Boulevard in front of Monument Books, witnesses said.
The French national, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said that he was turning left off Norodom in his Suzuki car when it was struck from behind by a black Cadillac Escalade.
The driver-cum-bodyguard in the SUV, who was driving a man in his mid-50s, then stopped his car and confronted the Frenchman, slapping his face and kicking him before pulling a handgun from a holster, the victim and witnesses said.
“He didn’t point [the gun] right at me, but he did load the chamber,” the Frenchman said.
Municipal police arrived at the scene shortly after, and the armed bodyguard proceeded to tell the police that he wanted the foreigner to confess that he was in the wrong.
The bodyguard, speaking in English, was heard saying, “There is a point where it is OK to pull your weapon.”
Both the Frenchman and the bodyguard later left the scene.
Chaktomuk commune deputy police chief Mam Sarath confirmed the assault and brandishing of a weapon, saying that “the bodyguard was angry about the accident, and that is why he pulled a gun.”
The case was considered closed by police because both parties agreed that the issue was resolved, Mr Mam Sarath said, adding that he did not know the name of the armed bodyguard nor the man he was driving in the Escalade.
(Additional reporting by Saing Soenthrith.)
