Missing Brooklyn 15-year-old with special needs found safe

SUNSET PARK (WABC) -- Police have found a missing 15-year-old who has the emotional development of a 7-year-old after she disappeared from her school in Brooklyn on Monday.

Nashaly Perez had vanished without a trace from her special needs school, PS 371 in Sunset Park, sparking a desperate search. Now, she is said to be in good condition, back with mom Sandra Rodriguez and stepdad William Brewley.

According to authorities, the teen as at a female friend's house in East New York. The friend's mother apparently realized Perez was staying over and called police around 7 a.m.

The family celebrated the news. "How do I feel? I feel so happy. Thank God, I could jump very high. It's a great sensation," said stepfather William Brewley.

Nashaly was taken by ambulance to Coney Island Hospital for observation.

The teen's parents say their daughter was supposed to have one-on-one, all-day supervision because of her special needs, yet she was able to slip out of the school two days ago without anyone stopping her.

"She never been out of our house without supervision of her mother or myself," Brewley said. "We try to receive the same attention and responsibility from school, and we thought we had great communication with them."

But when Rodriguez arrived to pick her up at 1 p.m. Monday, she was told the teen had been gone since noon. And no one had called her.

"If mom hadn't showed up at school, nobody's getting a phone call," family attorney David Perecman said. "Child is missing for an hour, and you know what they were probably doing? I wouldn't be shocked, we're going to find out they were looking for her. They wanted to find her and get her back before anybody finds out."

Perez is bipolar, and her parents were concerned that she was off her medication.

Rodriguez claims that staffers in the principal's office mocked her concerns, paging her daughter over loudspeakers even though they said Perez's departure, with two other teens, had been caught on video.

"Like it's your problem, I don't know what you're going to do, see you next day," Brewley said.

Only when Rodriguez called 911 did police get involved.

This case echos that of Avonte Oquendo, the autistic 14-year-old who ran away from school in Long Island City almost a year ago. He was found dead months later in the East River. Pereceman also represents the Oquendo family.

No one at Oquendo's school was ever disciplined in the incident, but that is not the case this time.

Schools Chancellor Carmin Farina has already taken action, reassigning principal Joan Antonelli.

"There is no excuse," New York City Schools Chancellor Carmin Farina said. "This is not something I want to see under my watch."

Asked about similarities to the Oquendo case, Farina said "I don't even think these cases are similar but we will, like I said let me do my investigation before I say something I have to retract later. Investigating, that's what it's all about."

Police did not believe Perez was in imminent danger, but they were concerned about the meds.

"Safety is my first concern," Farina said. "And anyone who doesn't follow procedures will be judged for that purpose."

Still, she stressed that this incident was not the same type of situation as Avonte.

"I don't think these cases are similar," she said, refusing to elaborate, citing the early stage of the investigation.