Friends mourn driver’s death

Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2004 | 11:08 a.m.

Family and friends of Pairoj Chitprasart gathered in the Thai Buddhist Temple on North 14th Street Tuesday night, remembering the hard-working cab driver who died earlier that day from third-degree burns over 70 percent of his body.

Chitprasart, 51, had worked for Nellis Cab. A robbery suspect set him on fire shortly before 8 p.m. Friday and he had been in critical condition and on life support from that time until his death.

"I saw him Monday night, and it hurt me so much I couldn't sleep all night," Donna Smith, a 30-year Las Vegas resident, said as rhythmic chants, smoldering incense and soft candlelight filled the Temple.

Smith had known Chitprasart for 13 years. She said he came to Las Vegas in search of a better life, along with the more than 10,000 Thais who have arrived in Las Vegas in search of fulfilling their dreams.

"We told him to carry a gun," Smith said. "He said it was against the law and wouldn't do it. Look what happened to him."

Chitprasart's 14-year-old son, David Chitprasart, and David's mother, Kanitsri Uttamong, had arrived in Las Vegas three weeks ago to share the house Chitprasart had recently purchased.

Sitting quietly on the temple's carpet, Uttamong said she had been at Chitprasart's side since it happened.

"He was so burned," she said. "He never regained consciousness."

Uttamong said the cab company had contacted her, but she is worried about supporting her son.

Since leaving Southern California to come to Las Vegas 13 years ago, Chitprasart had visited Uttamong and their son every two weeks in Los Angeles.

Uttamong said she knew of Chitprasart's girlfriend in Las Vegas, Oywan Sawyer, and both women stayed by his side throughout the three-day ordeal at University Medical Center.

Asked how he would like his father to be remembered, the eighth grader starting at Sierra Vista High School next week said, "He was a hard-working man."

Family friend Susie Payakniti said Chitprasart had been a mechanic, a restaurant owner, a newspaper editor of the Thai Times and a cab driver.

"He had a lot of dreams in his life," Payakniti said. "He was too young to die."

Payakniti said she was angry at the suspect, 33-year-old James Scholl, and sad.

"Citizens should be at ease when they travel at night," Payakniti said.

"You don't see cases like these often," another friend, Kongkasem Prasert, said.

Peter Wong, a driver for Ace Cab company, said he talked to Chitprasart when they worked nights, and they had talked about the dangers of their job.

In April 2003 Wong had picked up a fare on Boulder Highway, drove two blocks and was attacked with a crowbar, he said.

"I didn't see the crowbar," Wong said. "He started hitting me. He tried to murder me."

It took 56 stitches to close Wong's head wound, and Wong also suffered a broken arm, he said.

There is a University of Nevada, Las Vegas study underway to see if video cameras, partitions or Global Position System units would protect taxi drivers.

Wong said he has told the Taxi Authority that cab drivers need bullet-proof glass partitions between the driver and customers.

"With a camera in the cab, you're still dead," Wong said.

Chitprasart will be honored at the Temple until Friday, when a funeral service is scheduled from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Palm Mortuary on North Main Street. The service is open to the public.

Cremation is to follow the service.