Adriana Kuch, 14, was attacked by other students in the hallway of her high school last year. She later died by suicide after video of the assault was posted online.

The family of a New Jersey teenager who died by suicide after video of her being assaulted at her high school was posted online is suing the Board of Education and school officials, their attorneys said Monday.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Adriana Kuch’s family against the Central Regional Board of Education and others, alleges that officials were aware of “a culture of violence at Central Regional High School” and failed to protect her, the lawyers said.

Adriana took her own life after she was attacked by at least one other student in her high school last year and after video of the attack was posted online.

The assault and the video “led to her public humiliation and ultimate suicide,” the family lawyers said in a statement.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    It’s more fucked up than just that.

    The school (for some reason) gave UK Tabloid The Daily Mail an interview.

    They said the father cheated on the mother and forced the daughter to move in with the mistress, that the victim was a drug dealer and was beaten for selling laced marijuana to her attackers, so the victim killed herself because of her unstable home life and drug addiction, not the beating the school ignored.

    So they’re not just being sued for not doing anything after the beating, they’re being sued for slander as well.

    Edit:

    Since OPs link doesn’t go into all that, here’s the article I read the other day so you don’t have to take my word on it

    https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/teens-suicide-after-school-beating-video-goes-viral-sparks-family-lawsuit-for-catastrophic-failure-and-cruel-treatment-by-school-officials/

    I also forgot the school brought up the victims mom died of suicide as well… Implying it would have happened anyways.

    “The mom killed herself two years ago. The girls that assaulted her were friends with her but thought she had laced the marijuana they had smoked together. The father is very upset and lost his only child so sometimes you just have to eat the s— sandwich,” an email from Parlapanides stated, according to the lawsuit.

    • Algaroth@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      “eat the shit sandwich” is unbelievably crass when talking about the suicide of a teenage girl who was their student. Fucking hell.

      • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 months ago

        What does that even mean in this context? I’m pretty sure that dad has been eating shit sandwiches for a couple of years now. Why does he have to eat more? Sounds like an insensitive halfwit wrote that email.

        • Algaroth@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          I can only interpret it as “fuck you, deal with it”. My sister committed suicide over 20 years ago and if anyone talked like this to me today I don’t know that I would handle it legally. It’s so fucked up.

  • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    A friendly reminder for those in the US: you can dial 988 for access to mental health resources.

    As someone who has attempted suicide several times, let me just say that you’ve got nothing to lose by reaching out for help.

    • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      you’ve got nothing to lose by reaching out for help.

      Except for when they decide you are at risk and send an ambulance to take you to a hospital for a mental evaluation which consists of 5 flavors of questions that all boil down to “are you sad?”. Then, after the hold, you’re hit with a multi-thousand dollar ambulance and hospital bill that you have to take care of ON TOP of whatever issues were leading you to consider suicide.

      • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Unless I’m mistaken, they can only put you on a 72-hour hold if they deem you are threat to yourself and others. In other words, don’t ever tell them you’re going to kill yourself; just that you have thoughts about killing yourself.

        • nomous@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          100% this, they’re not going to take you away and put you in a padded cell because you’re depressed.

          If you’re in-crisis, talk to someone. If you’ve ever made a plan, remove the things involved in that plan (gun, razor, drugs, etc). The goal is to remove the things that might let you act too rashly or quickly. Bad phases come and go, it’s important to remember that the bad will end and try to figure out ways to manage your depression when it escalates.

      • Timecircleline@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        If this is something that happened to you then I’m sorry for your experience, especially if it dissuaded you from seeking help in the future. The health care system in the us is disgraceful.

    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      As someone who hasn’t ever contemplated suicide but has always been curious about the hotlines, do they just sort of… Tell you not to?

      Maybe it’s the autism talking, but if I was in the middle of a mental health crisis, platitudes would sound (at best) dishonest or (at worst) outright condescending. And unless they can point me to some sort of mental healthcare option that I hadn’t already considered/didn’t know about, then it doesn’t sound like they’d be much help. Like if they tell you to go check yourself into a ward, that doesn’t seem like it’d be effective for someone who had already considered and dismissed the idea.

      • samus12345@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Sometimes all a person needs is to talk to someone who gives a fuck. Those lines are staffed by unpaid volunteers, they’re not doing it for money.

      • HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Dad of three - I’ve still got mine and have spent many nights scared of this happening, and in worse pain than any other break up or loss at just the thought of this happening to one of my kids, let alone after also losing your wife to the same thing.

        I cant blame them at all for being happy they never had to.

    • DaBabyAteMaDingo@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Good call. Imagine being dumb enough to convince yourself you could be a good parent at 25 years old or younger?! 🤣😂😂🤣🤣

  • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    A culture of violence at the school? Something else is very wrong here and it’s not the parents or the students.

  • Jeff@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    This is why we homeschool. No thanks for this or a shooting gallery. Nope.