A mother in Kentucky is suing her local school district for negligence after her son, who has autism, left his classroom and wandered onto a busy road, completely unnoticed by school staff.
“It was the worst day of my life,” Leslie Weston told LEX18, recalling the incident last November when her seven-year-old, who is predominantly nonverbal, climbed out of his classroom window at Meadowthorpe Elementary and ended up in the middle of one of Lexington’s busiest streets.
Weston’s lawsuit, reviewed by PEOPLE, states that her son attends the school’s moderate to severe disability (MSD) classroom and has a “well-documented and known fixation” with the window. The suit alleges that on Nov. 17, the window was left unlocked and unattended, allowing him to exit.
Fayette County Public Schools declined to comment, telling PEOPLE, “We do not provide statements on pending litigations.”
According to the lawsuit, her son went completely unnoticed by the adults in the MSD classroom, climbed out the open window, and left the building.
Security footage reportedly showed the child running across the schoolyard before he squeezed through a gap in the fence and ended up on the busy nearby road. Several drivers called police after spotting the unattended child running along the roadside.
Officers from animal control eventually found the boy and took him to the hospital, where he was terrified, had a rapid heartbeat, and was vomiting. At that time, no missing-child report had been filed. According to the lawsuit, hospital staff noticed he was chewing on a “Recess” sticker and called Meadowthorpe Elementary to see if a student was unaccounted for.
The complaint also states that Child Protective Services (CPS) conducted an investigation, which substantiated findings of abandonment, lack of supervision, and potential physical abuse.
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