South Carolina middle school bullies who pushed a 12-year-old girl to hang herself visited her later at the ICU and took photos of the victim to mock her on social media, according to a new lawsuit.Kelaia Turner, now 14, suffered more than a year of physical and verbal abuse at the hands of five peers at the Dr. Phinnize J. Fisher Middle School in Greenville, her heartbroken family wrote in a lawsuit against the district and nine faculty members who were accused of negligence.
Seeing suicide as her only way out, Kelaia hanged herself in 2023 and was dead for 8 minutes before paramedics could revive her, with Kelaia suffering severe brain damage and remaining in a coma for weeks.
While Kelaia was in the coma, one of the bullies made their way inside the ICU and snapped photos of the intubated girl, posting the pictures on social media and spreading rumors about her injuries, the lawsuit says.Ty Turner, Kelaia’s mother, said she wants justice and is targeting the district for allegedly failing her daughter and allowing the bullying to go unrestrained for a year and a half.
Kelaia’s teacher, Olivia Bennett, allegedly joined in on the mockery and would acknowledge the victim when the bullies would ask her, “Where’s the roach?”Things only escalated in 2022 when Kelaia got into a fight with one of the bullies, with school officials opting to suspend her but not her tormentor, according to the lawsuit.On May 23, 2022, Kelaia’s parents said, students targeted their daughter by playing an offensive YouTube video called “The Black People Song,” which teacher John Teer allegedly allowed to be played aloudWithout reprimand over the video’s racist nature.
Greenville County Schools has denied the allegations and claims its staff takes the appropriate steps when dealing with bullying incidents.
“We disagree with these allegations and have conducted a thorough investigation and review of each allegation at the time they were made,” the district said in a statement.
“While we do not agree with the allegations, our hearts go out to Kelaia Tecora Turner, her mother, and their family,” officials added.
Bullies sneak into ICU to snap photos of 12-year-old girl they drove to hang herself: lawsuit
South Carolina middle-school bullies who allegedly pushed 12-year-old Kelaia Turner to hang herself visited her later at the ICU and took photos of the victim to mock her on social media, according…
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