EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — An El Paso family is demanding answers after their 8-year-old son with autism walked away from Desertaire Elementary School unnoticed and was found hours later outside their home Friday morning.
Moises and Lucia Sosa said they dropped off their son, Moises Jr., at the school around 7:35 a.m., expecting he would be safe.
Julia Spencer reports on Child with autism leaves school unnoticed, found hours later, raising safety concerns (Credit: KFOX14)
However, Moises Sosa, who works overnight, discovered his son outside their home around 10 a.m.
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“I look outside, and it’s my little boy, like, pacing, and I’m like — oh — I couldn’t get to the door fast enough,” Moises Sosa said. “I was like, what is my son doing here?”
The school is nearly two miles from the Sosa family home, about a 35-minute walk.
Moises Sosa immediately contacted the school and Ysleta district services, and a couple of hours later, the principal, a security guard, and a teacher arrived at his front door.
In a surveillance video outside of the Sosa family’s home, the principal is heard telling Sosa “I don’t know what to tell you…I don’t know.”
Another surveillance video showed the administrators discussed the door Moises Jr. is believed to have exited through, which the security guard noted “doesn’t have a lock.”
KFOX14/CBS4 reached out to the the Ysleta School District for further information regarding the incident.
In a statement a spokesperson stated:
We are aware of the situation and are taking appropriate administrative action to address it, as the safety and well-being of all students is our highest priority at Ysleta ISD. The emergency-egress gate used by the student is operational — it is required by law to provide a safe exit from campus during emergencies — and we sincerely regret the concern this situation has caused for the family. Due to student privacy laws, further details cannot be provided; however, we are fully cooperating with authorities in their investigation. We want to assure families that Ysleta ISD makes all necessary improvements to strengthen communication, staff training, and security procedures on an ongoing basis at every campus.
The Sosa family said they no longer feel comfortable sending their son back to school until the district and school administrators bring reassurance for their son’s safety.
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KFOX14/CBS4 asked Sosa is his son has a history of elopement, a behavior that involves leaving a supervised space without understanding the risks.
Sosa replied, “No, it happened a couple of times where we were like, man, he just goes…but after that ABA [Applied Behavior Analysis] therapy he had, it calmed him a lot.”
Elopement poses a higher risk for children with autism.
Meantime, Moises Sosa expressed uncertainty about future schooling options, considering homeschooling as a possibility.
The family has filed a police report and is awaiting further communication with school and district officials regarding next steps.