Within the first week of classes in Elmont, a 15-year-old autistic student died after leaving a school building unsupervised and a 5-year-old autistic child slipped out during a recess in Rockville Center but got home unharmed.
Christopher Williams, who attended The Martin de Porres School for Exceptional Children in Elmont, walked out of school on Thursday, Sept. 4, around 1 p.m.
State police said Christopher was hit and killed by a car while walking on the Southern State Parkway in Valley Stream. He was later pronounced dead at Long Island Jewish hospital.
The Martin de Porres School for Exceptional Children, which specifically serves children with special needs said it was “heartbroken” and “asking for privacy so our school community can grieve and begin the healing process” in a statement.
Christopher’s sibling, Danecia Lewis, set up a GoFundMe to raise money to cover his funeral costs, saying her family “just wanted to lay him to rest peacefully,” but her mother did not have the funds to pay for services.
“Our world was shattered when my brother, who had autism, went missing from school. Instead of ensuring his safety, the school called my mom asking where he was—unaware that he was already gone,” Lewis wrote on the GoFundMe page for Christopher. “A short time later, a detective called her to identify his body. He had been struck by a car and killed.”
“He was only 15 years old, with his whole life ahead of him,” Lewis’ message continued. “The school failed him, and now our family is left grieving an unimaginable loss.”
“The Martin De Porres family is heartbroken at the loss of one of our students, and our entire community is grieving,” said Joe Trainor, the school’s executive director. “We extend our deepest condolences to the student’s family, friends, and loved ones….We take this incident very seriously and, working with our board, have already begun a top-down review of our internal procedures and policies.”
The school said counseling and support services are being made available to students and staff.
The day before, a 5-year-old autistic student at Rockville Centre’s Riverside Elementary School walked out during recess.
The 5-year-old, whose name parents have decided not to disclose, was found at home on the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 3, to the shock of his parents. They told News 12 Long Island that when they came home on Wednesday evening, their young child surprised them by being inside the house before they were.
The New York Post reported that Riverside Elementary School said it called the police “as soon as it realized the child was missing” and that “cops arrived at the family’s home roughly 10 minutes after the call was made.”
The Rockville Center School District did not immediately return a request for comment from Schneps Media LI, but it released a statement last week saying that the district takes student safety very seriously and is investigating the incident.
