Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.
The cabdriver who was set on fire during a robbery attempt Friday died early this morning, and the man accused in the assault is expected to be charged with murder, authorities said.
Pairoj Chitprasart, 51, who worked for Nellis Cab, died at University Medical Center just before 3 a.m., a hospital spokeswoman said. He had been in critical condition on life support with third-degree burns over 70 percent of his body.
Police arrested 33-year-old James Scholl on Saturday after he showered at a friend's apartment following the incident and allegedly bragged that he had burned a cabdriver because he refused to give him money.
Scholl is being held in the Clark County Detention Center without bail on charges of attempted murder, robbery, burglary and mayhem.
Scholl's arraignment, scheduled for this morning, was postponed until tomorrow. Prosecutors said that the criminal complaint against him is being changed to reflect the charge of murder.
"We are in the process right now of moving forward with the murder charge," Capt. Tom Lozich of Metro's robbery-homicide bureau said this morning.
Chitprasart co-owned Thai Las Vegas News, a Thai newspaper, with his girlfriend, Oey Sawyer, she told the Sun.
The couple launched the newspaper five years ago and Chitprasart drove a cab to supplement their income, she said.
Last year he purchased a 1,500-square-foot, three-bedroom house in the Rhodes Ranch area near the Las Vegas Beltway and Durango Drive, according to county records.
Sawyer had stayed with Chitprasat at the hospital since he had been burned. She said Monday that despite her hopes she knew he wouldn't live much longer.
Chitprasart had been a Las Vegas cabdriver since April 1999. He worked for Union Cab first then switched to Nellis in 2001, Yvette Moore, administrator for the Nevada Taxicab Authority, said.
"He had a great record with us," she said. "It looks like he was an experienced, professional taxicab driver ... This is just horrific."
According to the police report, Scholl asked to use the restroom at the Olympic Garden topless club, 1531 S. Las Vegas Blvd., about 7:30 p.m. Friday. A woman working at the door of the club told him he would have to pay a cover charge, so he left.
Scholl walked toward a cab parked outside the club but didn't get in, telling the Olympic Garden valet he didn't want to ride with that driver, the police report says.
Then Chitprasart drove up and dropped off a fare at the club and Scholl hopped into his cab.
Moments later witnesses told police they saw Chitprasart covered in flames getting out of his cab on Las Vegas Boulevard at Fourth Street.
A man darted from the cab and ran north on the boulevard through the parking lot of the Chapel of Love. Police said no one got a good look at that man.
Officers arrived and helped put out the smoldering fires on Chitprassart's body, the report says.
Crime scene analysts found a Snapple bottle in the back seat of the cab containing a fluid residue believed to be the flammable liquid doused on Chitprasart, the report notes.
About 9 a.m. Saturday, a man called 911 reporting that the person who set the cabdriver on fire the night before was in an apartment on North Eighth Street near Fremont Street. The caller said the man was a transient and he let him use his shower sometimes.
The night before Scholl came over and asked his friend if he had heard about the robbery.
Scholl allegedly told his friend, "'The guy wouldn't give me the money so I burned him!"' according to the police report.
Scholl also allegedly had bragged in the past about robbing cabdrivers and threatening to douse them with gasoline if they didn't give him money, the report says. Police are trying to link Scholl to other robberies.
Police noticed that Scholl had a six- by three-inch circular patch of missing hair on his arm. Investigators determined the patch was a "vapor flash singe" from exposure to intense heat and fire, the report says.
Moore praised Metro for arresting Scholl so quickly, saying "I could not be more impressed."
The Nevada Taxicab Authority is expected in November to consider changing state policy to approve cameras in cabs, although some cabbies would like to see the measure implemented sooner.
Craig Harris, a veteran Yellow Checker Star driver and editor of Trip Sheet, a magazine for cabbies, said the cabbie community is "outraged."
"It's such a heinous crime. It's hard to understand how someone could do this," Harris said. Although a lot of competition exists among cab companies, "something like this really transcends all that. It could have been any of us."
Sun reporter Matt Pordum contributed to this story.
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