ATLANTA — A mother is furious that people watching her 8-year-old son on fire started recording instead of helping.
Sanquon King is now listed in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital after suffering burns over 38 percent of his body.
The child's mother, Willtrivius King, told Channel 2 Action News adults watched her son frantically running Friday evening after he caught fire at Covington Housing Authority Units and did nothing.
Someone shot video of him screaming for help. One woman can be heard barking instructions.
"Lay down in the grass and roll. Lay down in the grass," she said.
The same woman also made a comment to someone who thought what was happening was entertaining.
"Come on, Lana. That's not funny," she said.
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It certainly wasn't funny to the child's mother.
"How could you do that?" Willtrivius King asked.
She said she could not understand how someone could laugh in that moment or not help her son.
"Just to watch. Like grown people standing, watching, not trying to help -- not trying to do nothing," Willtrivius King said.
Police said the 8-year-old was playing with a lighter and lighter fluid and accidentally set himself on fire. He is heavily sedated because of the pain.
"That's cruelty to kids. You don't do kids like that," Willtrivius King said.
The mother wants the people who didn't help and the person who recorded the video, and posted it on social media, to face charges.
"They actually took their phone out unlocked it and started recording. Like, you got to be some kind of sick to do that," Willtrivius King said.
Police said while they would prefer that people put down the camera and try and help in incidents like this, they don't plan to charge anyone.
The child's mother thinks King would not be alive if two bystanders didn't happen to see what was going on and in step and help.
"They actually saved my baby life," Willtrivius King said.
Willtrivius King said Crystal Parks and Cynterra Jordan took her son's shoes off and rolled him on the ground.
She said they told her they couldn't let a child burn. King said she is eternally grateful.
"I can't wait to see them hug them, kiss them, love on them. I'm so thankful for them," King said.
[If you'd like to donate to the King family, visit any Wells Fargo and ask for the Sanquon King account]
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