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Incident location, Long Island
What Happened
A 15-year-old special needs student was fatally struck by a car on the Southern State Parkway in Valley Stream on Thursday afternoon after leaving his school unsupervised, according to New York State Police. The student, from St. Albans, Queens, was pronounced dead at a hospital following the accident near Exit 13, approximately half a mile from The Martin De Porres School for Exceptional Children in Elmont.
The student’s family says he was enrolled at the school for exceptional children and somehow left the facility unattended before the fatal collision. The victim’s mother told CBS News New York that school officials called her asking where her son was before police later summoned the family to identify his body at the hospital.
“On what should have been a normal school day, our world was shattered forever. The school failed him, and now our family is left with an unimaginable loss. A bright light that is now lost forever,” a family member wrote in a text message to CBS News New York. A fundraising group has been established to help the family cover funeral expenses, according to reports.
The Martin De Porres School released a statement Friday expressing their grief over the student’s death. “Our entire community is heartbroken at the loss of one of our students, and our entire community is grieving today. We extend our deepest condolences to the student’s family, friends, and loved ones,” the school said. The statement added that counseling and support services are being made available to students and staff.
Joe Trainor, executive director of the school, announced that officials have begun “a top-down review of our internal procedures and policies” following the incident. “The mission of The Martin De Porres is to educate children experiencing emotional and behavioral problems, and through that education, we strive for every child to have the opportunity to reach his or her fullest potential,” Trainor said in the statement. “We take this incident very seriously and, working with our board, have already begun a top-down review of our internal procedures and policies.”
Parents in the school community are demanding answers about how the student was able to leave the facility unnoticed. “The fact that the child even got that far is really scary. Where is the security at the school and the teachers?” one parent told CBS News New York. Another parent added, “Very unsafe. I think the school would have to be responsible. Doesn’t make any sense for a child with special needs to get out of the school.”
Location & Road Context
The fatal collision occurred on the Southern State Parkway near Exit 13 in Valley Stream, Nassau County. The accident site was located approximately half a mile from The Martin De Porres School for Exceptional Children in neighboring Elmont. The Southern State Parkway is a major east-west thoroughfare serving Long Island commuters and connects to numerous residential communities in the area.
Investigation & Legal Proceedings
New York State Police are investigating the crash, though no charges have been announced against the driver involved in the collision. The investigation remains ongoing as authorities work to determine the full circumstances surrounding how the student left the school grounds and ended up on the busy parkway.