Landon Goff: Family sues bus company after teen with special needs dies due to 'cruel negligence'

EGG HARBOR TWP, NEW JERSEY: It's been a year since Landon Goff, a New Jersey teen with special medical needs, choked to death on a school bus when employees present in the vehicle ignored his condition. His heartbroken parents have now demanded a probe, filing a lawsuit to get answers about what happened.

16-year-old Goff was on his way to Cape May County Special Services School on the morning of December 1, 2022, when he lost consciousness and needed to be rushed to the hospital, WPVI reported.

What happened to Landon Goff?

Goff died in the hospital three days later, after having choked on his own saliva, per his parents. He was diagnosed with Rett syndrome and, as a result, used a wheelchair. His mother Jennifer Spahr also explained that the teen could not always communicate in complete sentences.

Three other students throughout the 45-minute bus journey were with Goff when he passed out, along with an assistant and the bus driver from Sheppard Bus Services.

However, Goff's parents alleged in a new lawsuit against the bus company filed this month that neither the driver nor the aide attempted to assist Goff at any point after he lost consciousness during the journey. Help only came when they arrived and the staff at the school began performing CPR.

The lawsuit accuses Sheppard Bus Services, which operated over 500 buses, of negligence, and states that the driver and the aide should have been better trained to handle medical emergencies with disabled children, NJ Advance Media reported. However, a lawyer for the bus company declined to comment to The Post on December 20. 

 Landon Goff's parents call out 'cruel negligence' by bus company

In the lawsuit, Landon's parents wrote, "Landon was a truly special boy who loved life and was making great progress in every way, getting closer daily to walking on his own." They continued, ”We cannot begin to understand how Landon, one of only four kids on the Sheppard bus that morning, could be the victim of such cruel neglect by the bus driver and aide that cost him his life.”

Goff, of Galloway, was the last student picked up by the bus on the morning of the incident, per NJ Advance Media.  "He was happy. He was smiling. I gave him a kiss and a hug and said, ‘Have a good day at school, I’ll see you later,'” Jennifer Spahr told WPVI about her last moments with her son.

“I just thought everything was normal. I just said goodbye to Landon. Watched him go up the lift and that was the last time I seen him,” his father, Aaron Kizer-Goff, added to NBC Philadelphia. The driver was the regular person assigned to the bus, while the aide was a substitute, the complaint alleged.

Goff was ultimately reported to be unconscious and unresponsive by a school response officer when the bus pulled up to the school at approximately 9 am. He was airlifted to Delaware's Dupont Children's Hospital after being transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital. Three days later, Goff passed away from an airway blockage and a brain injury. 

The camera on board the bus was not working at the time of the incident, as mentioned in the lawsuit. An investigation into Goff’s death is still ongoing.

“All parents of special children, like Landon, deserve to know their children are not second-class citizens, and that everything possible is being done to protect them from danger, including on the school bus,” Goff’s parents said in a statement about the complaint, per the New York Post.