Autistic Thai boy dies after parents leave him in car for party

A seven year old Thai boy with autism died in a car after his parents left him in the vehicle for more than five hours while attending a party with neighbours in the Isaan province of Sakaeo.

Volunteers from the Aranyaprathet Rescue Foundation were called to a house in the Aranyaprathet district of Sakaeo to help the seven year old boy, who was found lying unconscious in a pickup truck. Rescuers removed the boy from the vehicle and administered CPR, but, unfortunately, they could not save his life.

The deceased’s mother, 34 year old Sang, told rescuers and officers from the Aranyaprathet Police Station that the boy had autism and usually sneaked away to play inside the car. She believed that the pickup’s doors had automatically locked, trapping him inside and leading to his death from a lack of air.

However, a neighbour of Sang’s, who witnessed the incident, provided conflicting information to the police. The witness explained that the couple left their home in the morning and arrived back at about 10am. They were in a hurry to attend a neighbour’s party nearby, so they locked the car and rushed off.

The witness believed that they had left their son in the vehicle. The witness saw the couple searching for their son, and they later found him in the car at about 3pm.

The police questioned the couple until they confessed that they had forgotten the boy in the pickup. Sang explained that she and her husband, who was the boy’s stepfather, had visited a neighbour’s home. She took another child with her and did not drink alcohol, but her husband did.

Sang said she thought someone in her family had already taken the boy out of the car and had not checked on him since. Her husband went to move the car to park it in another spot and found the boy lying unconscious in the back seat.

Officers will wait until the end of the boy’s funeral to charge the couple with negligence causing death. The penalty for this offence is imprisonment for up to 10 years and a fine of up to 200,000 baht, according to Section 291 of the Criminal Law.