American Suffers Serious Injury In 5th Floor Fall

[sriracha john]

City man severs spine in fall in Thailand

Mother desperate to join son in Bangkok

A Charleston man mysteriously fell five stories from a Thailand apartment building on Saturday. The fall severed his spinal cord, and now his mother is desperately trying to reach him.

William Baxter Harrison has been studying world religion at Assumption University, a Catholic school in Bangkok. He was found by volunteer paramedics after a five-story fall, said his mother Kay Dillon, owner of O'Kays restaurant and bar on Leon Sullivan Way.

The 23-year-old Harrison had lived in Thailand for about a year and was dating a girl there, she said. But Harrison called his close friend John Martin last Thursday, telling him that his girlfriend had cheated on him, Martin said Tuesday afternoon. Martin said he consoled his friend. "I talked him down," he said. The next day Harrison called Martin, at about midnight Saturday in Bangkok, saying he was going to go to the woman's house and talk to her. "He was calm, he just wanted to try and work it out," Martin said. "He was on his way over there."

A few hours later, Martin got a call from the U.S. State Department, saying there had been a terrible accident.

"They called John because his number was the last number called on [Harrison's] phone," Dillon said. The State Department told Dillon that her son was alive, but needed surgery. He has a severed spinal cord and may have brain damage, she said.

It took her 12 hours to get permission to the Thai hospital to do the surgery, she said. "They were not sure if he would survive the surgery. They don't think he will walk again," Dillon said.

Much of the details surrounding the fall are murky. Paramedics in Thailand are volunteers, and a paramedic crew apparently saw Harrison fall, Dillon said. They immediately went to help him, but were surprised when no one came to his aid from the apartment building, she said.

It's unclear whether there is an investigation into the fall going on in Thailand, but Dillon said when she was contacted by the State Department, they asked her several questions. "They asked me who would harm him and why, how long he had been in the country," she said. "None of it registered. I heard that my son's spinal cord had been severed, that he was bleeding from the ears. ... So the questions seemed irrelevant at the time."

The office of Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is helping Dillon get an emergency visa to go to Thailand, said Capito spokesman Jonathan Coffin. "Obviously it's a very serious situation. Anything we can do to help, we want to make sure that we do," Coffin said.

Dillon said she doesn't know how much it is going to cost her or how when she will be able to reach her son. "I'm just trying to get over there," she said. "I need to be with him."

- Charleston Gazette (Charleston, West Virginia, USA) / 23-04-08

Edited April 23, 2008 by sriracha john

[Scott]

Best of luck to the victim and his family. The mother can certainly get a visa on arrival. I would suggest that she get here as quickly as possible rather than messing around too much with bureaucracy.

[kiakaha]

Best of luck to the victim and his family. The mother can certainly get a visa on arrival. I would suggest that she get here as quickly as possible rather than messing around too much with bureaucracy.

Americans don't need VOA (Visa on Arrival).

Americans are subject to Visa Waiver.They will get a 30 day permit of stay upon entry through and immigration post,

[a2396]

I would hope there will be some serious investigation into this incident. Suicide, accident or what? It seems a lot of Farangs fall from buildings here.

[kiakaha]

I would hope there will be some serious investigation into this incident. Suicide, accident or what? It seems a lot of Farangs fall from buildings here.

I would be willing to wager that more Japanese/Koreans/Chinese than Farangs 'fall' from buildings in Thailand..just doesn't get covered as much in English language press.

[Wrong Turn]

Sad story. I am *assuming* he did an intentional swan dive. We'll wait and see.

[hanibal7]

Very tragic,and my thoughts go the family/friends of this guy.Makes us all think about how our family would cope if anything happened to us.My mum and dad are coming up to 79 and 80 so they couldnt get on a plane.Will have to do some thinking about a possibilty if i was in that condition my brother would comeover and be with me,although my gf and stepson would be at my side i feel i would need my brother there too.

anyway a very sad situation for everyone involved,as this sounds a very serious injury.

[Jingthing]

Maybe the mother doesn't have a passport?

The way the article talks about Thailand it might as well be Mars.

[sriracha john]

Maybe the mother doesn't have a passport?

The way the article talks about Thailand it might as well be Mars.

Probably for a lot of West Virginians, it is.