NJ teen with special needs died from choking after bus staff allegedly ignored him

A New Jersey teen with special medical needs choked to death on a school bus last year when bus company staff ignored his condition, his heartbroken parents claim in a new lawsuit.

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

He died there three days later after having choked on his own saliva, his parents told the outlet.

Goff was diagnosed with Rett syndrome and, as a result, used a wheelchair and could not always communicate in complete sentences, his mother, Jennifer Spahr, explained.

A bus driver from Sheppard Bus Services and an aide were on board when Goff lost consciousness during the 44-minute ride, as well as three other students.

But neither the bus driver nor the aide tried to help Goff at any point during the 44-minute ride until they arrived and the school and employees started CPR, Goff’s parents claimed in a new suit against the bus company filed this month.

The suit accuses Sheppard Bus Services — which operated over 500 buses across five New Jersey counties — 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.

A lawyer for the bus company declined to comment to The Post on Wednesday afternoon.

“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,” his parents wrote in a statement, the outlet said.

”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, NJ Advance Media said, citing court documents.

“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,'” Spahr told WPVI  of 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 dad, 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.

The bus arrived at the school around 9 a.m., and a school response officer was finally told that Goff was unconscious and unresponsive.

He was taken by ambulance to a local hospital before being airlifted to Dupont Children’s Hospital in Delaware.

Goff died of a brain injury and an airway obstruction three days later, NJ Advance Media explained.

The camera on board the bus was not working at the time of the incident, the outlet explained, citing the lawsuit.

An investigation into Goff’s death is still ongoing.

“All parents of special children, like Landon, deserve to know their kids 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.