Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Autistic boy who drowned in canal identified.

Becky Bartkowski and Jordan LaPier
The Arizona Republic Jul. 18, 2007

WEST PHOENIX - Officials Wednesday identified an autistic boy who died after falling into a Phoenix canal. Jayson Allan, 8, fell into a canal near Indian School Road and 67th Avenue on Tuesday after having left his day-care group, according to a statement from Sgt. Joel Tranter, Phoenix police spokesman. A man at a nearby auto-lube store saw Jayson on the west side of the canal bank just before he fell into the canal around 3:35 p.m. The man jumped into the canal and found Jayson submerged in the water, according to Tranter's statement.
Jayson was taken to Maryvale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Jayson was in day care through Quest Alliance School and among a group of children with special needs. Tranter said Jayson, who was autistic, and three children in his group were getting into a van when there was a disturbance with two of the children outside the vehicle. Jayson apparently unbuckled himself from his seat and walked away unnoticed, according to the statement.

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