The last place any parent would expect their child to lose their life is at school, and in the case of a 14-year-old Houston middle schooler, there remain more questions than answers.
On Aug. 14, Landon Payton collapsed from a medical emergency during the school day, according to Fox 26. After suffering from seizures, Payton was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. Despite the school’s reported efforts to assist Payton before he was rushed to the hospital, his grieving father has reasonable concerns about exactly what led to Payton’s death.
According to Alexis Payton, the father, his son was in pristine health and just had a physical assessment for football months before the incident. His son also never had any heart problems or a history of seizures.
The day after Payton’s death, Alexis said he spent two hours with Houston Independent School District leaders but was disappointed by the lack of answers and accountability. “I was there at the end. I saw my son die,” Alexis told KHOU 11. “All I want is closure. They don’t even wanna give me closure. We gotta go through the courts.”
According to him, the district showed him body camera footage from first responders, but Alexis said it didn’t show the beginning of the complete incident. Alexis wants to know what happened before the cameras started rolling, and more importantly, Payton’s father has questions for the school’s medical staff.
“It’s a nurse you have at the school who didn’t know how to do CPR, did not know how to do CPR, did not know how to use the defibrillator,” he said. During the footage, Alexis said he heard a school nurse admit they didn’t know CPR, a life saving method that could have been used on his son.
“I’m angry as hell,” Alexis said. “That was my baby. … I’m not going to make this easy on them or me. We’re going to get [answers] one way or another.” Payton’s family has hired attorney Chris Tritico to represent them, according to Fox 26.
A vigil was held outside of Marshall Middle School to grieve Payton’s untimely death.