Almost a year after the death of a 16-year-old boy with severe autism at his Michigan home, the father charged with the involuntary manslaughter of his son is speaking out in his first television interview.

Timothy Koets is charged in the March 2019 death of his boy, Samuel Koets, who drowned in the family pool. According to police, Timothy left for work on March 28 and Samuel was left unsupervised. However, his wife, Michelle, says he woke her up before leaving but she wasn't awake for long.

“Tim woke me up and I fell back asleep. Tim thought I was up to supervise Sam so he could go back to work. He would never leave Sam unattended,” she told Inside Edition.

Later, after their 13-year-old daughter returned from school to find Samuel standing in the pool, she texted Timothy a picture of him in the water. The dad asked her to make sure he was OK.

The daughter alerted her mother about Samuel, and she ran to help him. However, he had gone under the water and could not be revived.

Timothy, an assistant professor, has pleaded not guilty and says police shouldn't be treating him the way they are.

“To be portrayed as an uncaring father and somebody that was negligent and wasn’t watching him is so unfair,” Timothy told Inside Edition.

For more of Timothy and Michelle's interview with Inside Edition, watch the video above.

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