Weekley later learned from the hospital staff that Tristan had acetone in his system. Acetone is a chemical found in nail polish and paint remover. Inhaling or swallowing large amounts of the substance over a short period of time can result in symptoms such as headaches, confusion, nausea, racing pulse, unconsciousness or coma, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. The story has received some attention on social media and in local news, and the police are investigating.
The Frisco Police Department issued a statement about the ordeal explaining that it couldn’t reveal much because the case involved a minor. So far, the department doesn’t seem to think anything criminal transpired, it said in a statement around the time of the incident.
“Frisco PD was in contact with the family last week, and investigators, as well as our school resource officers, have spoken to them on a number of occasions and obtained a statement from the child,” the department said. “As part of the investigation, we hope to determine why he chose to leave campus after the bell, as opposed to going to meet his prearranged ride home.”
Reached for follow-up comment a couple weeks later, a spokesperson for the department named Grant Cottingham said it is still investigating but there’s still nothing to suggest anything criminal. He said the investigation would be best described as “fact-finding in nature.”"He didn't flinch." – Chandra Weekley, mom
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Cottingham added, “If we discovered anything to suggest there is a danger to the community, we would share that.”
Katie Granado, Wester Middle School principal, said in a statement that safety concerns are taken seriously in the district and that the FISD immediately investigated. The district is working with the police department on its investigation but Granado said little information could be released at this time. “However, we can share that evidence shows the student left district property safely during dismissal and without concern,” Granado’s statement said.
The department’s and district’s assurances haven’t given Weekley much comfort about the situation. She’s taken to social media and local news outlets to tell her and her son’s story because she feels the district and police are not giving all the details about what happened.
Tristan Weekley lies in a hospital bed. Earlier in August, he had been found unresponsive after school.
Courtesy of Chandra Weekley
After arriving at the hospital, Tristan was taken to the ICU because he was exhibiting seizure-like symptoms. He spent days in the hospital. Now, he’s back at home with his family, which is still trying to nail down exactly what transpired.
While at the hospital, he told his mom he was approached by a woman near a bathroom in the school who offered him ice cream. According to his mom, he said he declined the ice cream but then the woman put it in his face and then “everything went black.” His family and police have asked Trisitan for more details about what happened before "everything went black," but him mom says he doesn't remember anything helpful.
When Weekley went to pick up Tristan from school that day, she couldn’t find him. He knew the way to walk home, so she drove the path to look for him but he was nowhere in sight. She texted her boyfriend to see if Tristan was home or outside in the neighborhood. Still, he was nowhere to be found.
By 4:30, she began to worry about what might have happened to her son. Weekley asked her daughter if she had heard from Tristan. Nothing. She called the police, who advised her to return to her son’s school in case he showed up there.
Still on the phone with the police, Weekley was told a boy was found in a nearby neighborhood. The police asked Weekley to describe Tristan so they could confirm it was him. Then, they asked if Tristan had any cognitive disabilities. She was asked this repeatedly. “Why do you keep asking me that?” she told the officer. “Because the kid we have is foaming at the mouth and he’s unresponsive,” the officer replied.
By this time, Tristan was inside an ambulance in the neighborhood where he was found. The police asked Weekley to go to the scene to identify her son. It was Tristan. In the ambulance, Tristan was given an IV. "He didn't flinch," Weekley said, even though he's afraid of needles. He was taken to a nearby hospital and met there by his family. As hospital staff worked on Tristan, Weekley tried to get in touch with the school principal. She couldn’t reach the principal that day so she showed up the next morning at the school to speak with her.
When Tristan was found, he didn’t have his backpack. Police said he took it off at school and left the building, although Weekley said this isn’t something her son would normally do. Granado told Weekley the next day that she was the one who found the backpack. Camera footage from the school appeared to show her son taking off his backpack outside the cafeteria, outside of the school and running away, according to Weekley. The footage also appeared to show Tristan was in the cafeteria by himself a couple of minutes before the dismissal bell rang, she said. Weekley said that the video appears to show Tristan running away from something. She never saw the woman with ice cream her son mentioned, but Weekley said the school hasn't showed her all the footage.
She asked the principal why Tristan would have been in the cafeteria alone two minutes before the bell rang. Granado didn’t know for sure but said Tristan’s teacher could have let him out early to use the restroom.
Weekley believes the district can't definitively say that nothing bad happened to Tristan while he was on campus. She is still looking for more answers, answers about why her son was alone before the bell rang, why he seemed to leave in a hurry, how he ended up with acetone in his system and how he ended up in the neighborhood where he was found.
On top of searching for answers, Weekley said she and her family are taking time to recover. Weekley said Tristan hasn't been back to school yet and certainly won't be returning to Wester Middle School. She said Tristan is doing much better, but it’s all taken a toll on her as well. “I can’t sleep,” she said. “I’ve been fighting for my son for so long, trying to get things in order, that I’m just exhausted.”
