What's NOT Being Reported

In attempting to piece together the circumstances leading to the death of 16 year old Nathan Vredevelt, I’ve come to some vague conclusions that deserve further scrutiny. This is the young man who had Down syndrome, and was struck by 2 cars on I-5 near the Rose Garden Arena on Sunday night. He died yesterday from his injuries.

According to the accounts I’ve read, he was watching the Blazers play the Spurs from a suite. His sister and his caregiver were attending the game with him. My guess is that because he had an identified history of “bolting”, he required his own caregiver. Obviously he was someone who also required line of sight supervision whenever out in the community.

The story is that at halftime he asked his caregiver if he could use the restroom located within the suite they were watching the game in. The caregiver ok’d the request and Nathan went over to the restroom door. There was someone in there already, so the door was locked.

If the caregiver was doing their job correctly, they would have been watching all this play out. They would have made sure that Nathan came back to them and waited until the other person came out. Then they would have escorted him to the restroom, and waited outside the door for him. That way he couldn’t have bolted from the suite, left the Rose Garden, made it to the freeway, and got hit by 2 cars.

I believe there is an investigation going on around all the details. If not, there should be.