A 14-year-old boy with autism was struck and killed by an SUV after running across U.S. 54 South in El Paso on Tuesday afternoon.
The boy, identified as Joseph Nathanial Caraballo, was an El Paso Independent School District and had a history of eloping, a behavior common in some autistic children.
“Of having safety plans put in place for Joey, for him to be safe, for them to sit with him, be by his side at all times. Where was that person? I don’t know,” Evette Ortiz, Joseph Caraballo’s mother told KTSM.
Caraballo’s family confirmed his death to KTSM and on social media, expressing their grief and frustration.
The family shared that Joseph had level 3 autism, the most severe on the spectrum, which contributed to his tendency to flee from designated safe areas.
Family members allege that Joseph ran away the high school he attended, marking the third escape since school began in August.
They added that during a previous incident, Joseph was missing for seven hours.
Just a week before the incident, the family met with the school’s special education teachers to discuss a safety plan to prevent Joseph’s escape.
Caraballo’s sister mentioned that school staff had discussed strategies such as keeping Joseph’s desk furthest from the door and having a designated person to supervise him at all times.
The family is demanding answers from the school and district officials on how Joseph was able to escape for a third time, despite discussions about a safety plan.
Videos of bystander trying to help Joseph circulated on social media. The family expressed their gratitude to the people who stepped in trying to rescue their loved one.
Joseph was the youngest of seven siblings. The Caraballo family moved to El Paso from New York last year.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KTSM. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KTSM staff before being published.
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