A Galloway Township couple wants answers as to why their son died after becoming unconscious on his bus ride to school.
Jennifer Spahr and Aaron Goff filed are hoping a lawsuit will help them find out what happened to 16-year-old Landon Goff.
“What we do know is that during that 40-minute drive, no one bothered to check on Landon, to use the radio, to pull over, call 911,” attorney Alexa D’Amato Barrera said at a news conference Tuesday.
It was not until Landon’s bus arrived at Cape May Special Services School at 9:07 a.m. Dec. 1, 2022, that the resource officer was notified a student was unconscious and unresponsive, the lawsuit filed on the anniversary of that day states.
Landon was taken to an area hospital and then airlifted to DuPont Hospital for Children, where he died three days later.
It was the same hospital where he was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome at 13. Landon used a wheelchair but more extensive therapy was planned to help him walk again, his mother said.
He was described as the center of the family, referred to as Ling Ling by his four brothers and two sisters.
"He was always everybody's light," his father said.
"He always had a smile on his face," his mother said. "Always joked around.
Nothing was different that last morning, they said.
“He was happy. He was smiling,” Spahr recalled. “I gave him a kiss and a hug and said, ‘Have a good day at school. I’ll see you later.’”
His father brought Landon up to the stand to board the bus.
The three other Special Services children who rode with him every day were already inside, along with a substitute aide.
“As I was speaking to the bus driver, she just made everything seem just like it was every other day,” Goff said.
At some point during that ride, “Landon drowned in his own saliva,” attorney D'Amato Barrera said.
Neither the school bus driver nor the aide rendered help at any point, despite the requirement for both to be trained, the suit alleges.
But the details of what happened on the bus are not fully known.
The audio/video recording system malfunctioned that day, according to the lawsuit. It’s not known how long it had not worked.
“He was always a fighter,” Landon’s father said.
Now his family is fighting not only for their own answers but to make sure this does not happen to another child, attorney Stephen Van Natten said.
“Landon’s parents trusted that Sheppard Bus Service would bring their child to school alive and unharmed,” D’Amato Barrera said. “And that is not what happened, and that is a violation of the law in New Jersey.”
