A 17-year-old Long Island teen recently took his own life and his mother says he killed himself as a way to escape the allegedly relentless bullying he suffered from at school. The mother says she knew he was bullied, but never realized just how bad it was.
When the boy was 10, he began wearing a brace for treatment of scoliosis. That is when the bullying began and, according to his mother, continued all through his junior high and high school years.
The mother described several alleged incidents, including one when her son was in eighth grade and several boys pulled his pants down in the cafeteria. Right before he died, the same students showed up in his English class and he was too scared to go back to that class.
Her son was victimized constantly, with children punching and kicking him. Despite multiple reports to the school administration, the abuse and bullying continued. The mother had even been in touch with her son’s guidance counselor just three days before he killed himself.
The school refused to confirm or deny the bullying took place. The only public statement issued was condolences to the family and that the crisis intervention team had been activated for students.
Although the victim was also seeing a therapist, the mother said she had no idea just how terrorized her son was. It wasn’t until after he died and she found his journal where he had documented all the abuse that she realized just how much he had endured.
In a discussion about the boy’s death and what led up to it, Attorney Neal Goldstein commented, “Pending the results of a thorough investigation, if it is determined that the school was aware that this student was being bullied and still did nothing about it, then they must be held accountable for their negligence.”
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