Dramatic police body camera footage has emerged of the moment a severely disabled man in distress was rescued from a locked car on a swelteringly hot day in the middle of summer.
Former NDIS carer Tsz Wing Tam, 37, left his client Jefferson Do, 26, alone in a hot car at the Joondalup Mall in Perth on a 41C day while he went shopping and bought food for himself with his client’s money.
Mr Do, who requires 24-hour care due to his non-verbal autism, was abandoned and left strapped in the back seat for two hours on January 13, one of the hottest days in Perth this year.
Passersby saw a visibly distressed Mr Do struggling and beating his chest inside the car, with only a small gap in the front window allowing air in, and alerted security personnel.
Police body camera footage can now be streamed after Tam recently pleaded guilty and was sentenced.
Mr Do’s grateful family have since thanked rescuers for their quick actions that saved his life after seeing the shocking footage.
The images show the moment when the police came to Mr Do’s aid.
“Hey buddy, can you open the door please?” a concerned officer asked.
Jefferson Do (pictured) was locked in a car on a 41-degree day by his caretaker.
Former caretaker Tsz Wing Tam (centre) was given a suspended sentence after he recently pleaded guilty to endangering the life, health and safety of his client.
A distraught Mr Do was seen thrashing around inside as police rushed to smash the window and open the door.
“Are you okay? Are you hot?” the officer asks as he hands her a bottle of water.
‘There you go, put it inside.’
Mr. Do grabbed the bottle and began drinking thirstily.
Later footage showed him being treated by paramedics and loaded onto a stretcher to be taken to hospital for a check-up.
Mr Do’s sister Fiona said the images were difficult to watch.
“It was very confrontational, he was given immediate medical attention, escalated to security, escalated to the police and taken to hospital, I think that pretty much saved his life,” she told Nine News.
Mr Do’s brother, Harry, also thanked emergency workers.
“I just wanted to really thank the security guards, the police and the paramedics for all their efforts and for being on duty that day to look after my brother,” she said.
Tam pleaded guilty to robbery and endangering another person’s life before receiving a 12-month suspended sentence in June.
However, Harry feared the sentence would be too light to deter other NDIS carers from committing similar offences.
“People who are probably committing a crime right now are not going to be afraid because they’ll just get a slap on the wrist, too,” he said.
Jefferson’s brothers and mother (all pictured with Jefferson) said it was confronting to watch the police body camera footage.
Tam had worked with the Do family for eight years and joined them on family vacations.
When Tam pleaded guilty in May, Mr. Do’s family had hoped he would be punished appropriately.
“The damage has been done, we will never trust another carer in the same way we did again,” her brother Harry told reporters outside the court at the time.
“It’s really heartbreaking for our family to know that we trusted someone and they took advantage of us.”
The former NDIS worker cared for Mr Do four days a week for seven of the eight years she cared for him, the court heard during sentencing, WA Today reported.
The footage shows the rapid rescue effort by police and paramedics to save Jefferson.
Tam regularly took Mr Do to shopping malls and on that January day, he had been asked to take him out for lunch and socialising.
Mr Do’s mother gave her son money for the outing, which Tam later used to buy himself ice cream and chips, the court heard.
While Judge Raelene Johnston While accepting he had no intention of harming Mr Do, he said Tam showed a “complete disregard” for his client’s vulnerability for his own “selfish ends”.
She also called Tam’s decision to spend her client’s money to buy herself lunch “shameful” and “selfish.”