Teen Kills Herself By Stepping In Front Of Bus, Family Blames Bullying

I haven’t heard nothing until now. She looked like a striking beauty. Its a shame s
ome fat asshole was jealous of that.

I read this the other day, and the article I read was trying to make it seem like it was solely because of bullying. I’m glad you put more information in this article, so that we can get a better feel for her background. And I’m with you; I think that if she had other mental problems, her parents should have gotten her help in other ways. If this was going on for so long, she was probably chemically imbalanced and that was exacerbated by the situational problems she was having. There is chemical depression, and there is situational depression, and it sounds like she had some of both. I realize that she was bullied, and that upsets me, but if she had been given the tools to deal with her depression and her emotions, she might still be here.

I am in favor of a law which would apply to extreme,or aggravated cases of bullying.As for Amanda here – it seems like her friends and family dropped the ball;Amanda obviously needed some help,and not just with bullies,seems her own mind at some point had turned against her.Why wasn’t someone monitoring her facebook ?

I’m finding it hard to get past her being 15 and dating a 19 yr old and she was allowed to do so… that speaks to what Rebecca Garcia said in her comment, that she wasn’t supervised very well, how could they miss those glaring FB posts of suicide speech. 

just can’t wrap my head around the parents role in this.  I guess if she had been threatening suicide for years you just don’t know what to do.  Very tragic, but I’m glad you put more details in here Morbid.  As others have said, everything I read attributed it all to bullying. 

This is a fucking epidemic! How the hell are we raising our kids today if they can’t stand up to a damn bully?? She couldn’t cope because no one taught her to. Same as all the others, no fucking coping skills & our world (remember, they’re the fucking future!) is falling apart.
It was posted on FB recently, a friend asking for prayers because a neighbor girl did this same thing – I got MAD….now I’m even more mad. WTF.
We. Were. ALL. Bullied. And we fucking survived & became constructive people of society. When I was 15/16 I lost ALL my friends & hid in the bathroom or library from embarassment. But I grew up & got over it, I made new friends.
Witnesses or not….this is about how we’re raising our children. When we get knocked down….are we going to STAY down or get up & fight?
SO PISSED right now.

Suicide in itself is so selfish, because the ones that care about you are the ones left on earth to replay your decision over and over again. Involving someone else unwillingly in your endeavor is beyond fucked up. Obviously this girl didn’t even have the mental/emotional capacity to love herself, so she sure as hell didn’t care about anyone else.

The write up and comments here are all pretty well reflecting my take on it. Yes she was a beautiful girl, check. And yes she seems to have been in emotional turmoil, maybe some from outside sources, alot to do with trying to have an “adult like relationship to young”. And no, this case can’t be wrapped you into a package of “due to bullying”. Sounds like she truly had alot going on in her interior thought process. And yes, I have always found suicide to be selfish.Bailing out on the ones who love you and actually care, leaving them to ponder what more, else, or what they could have changed to have stopped this. It is like leaving an open ended, never truly answered by a lame letter, question. It is sad that the family is hurting, and if there was some form of bullying going on, (because we know what asshats teens are these days) that sucks.

This girl learned her victimization, selfishness,  and need for attention and the drama from her family…

Yes, we were bullied, & yes, most of us survived. But it’s a lot more difficult these days. We could escape to the safety of our homes or other places & be away from it. Kids today are just bombarded with it, & they often have no safe place. It’s sent to their mobile phones, it’s all over everywhere they go online, it’s like there’s no escape from it. For most of us, once school was out & we were home, we were safe. Imagine the kids who bullied you coming home with you & sitting on your bed or sofa with you, screaming at you, calling you horrible things, never letting up. Ever. And it’s not just the names … the things they can just quickly send around phones, or spread on the internet, can be even worse. Then it’s not just 10 or 20 kids at school, it can quickly turn into hundreds or even thousands, if they get it to go viral. I totally get where you’re coming from, but the bullying we went thru is nothing compared to what kids can experience today.

“‘If people know they’re going to be punished with a crime, even a misdemeanor, they don’t commit the crime,’ Klein said with a straight face.”

Klein may have said it with a straight face, but I could hear your eyes rolling even through the text. They make kind of a scraping sound…

Morbid – great story, I thought you were spot on!

There are laws that apply to extreme cases of bullying.  Those incidents tend to fall under harassment and assault statutes.  

 Having been a teen until very recently, Morbid, I couldn’t agree with you more. No law in the world would have stopped the girls who made fun of me and my friends on a regular basis. Picking on the group that’s “lower” than your clique’s social status is how high school works, and nothing short of social penalties – not being put in jail or fined, but somehow suddenly being seen as a loser and uncool – will ever stop that. Reactionary laws won’t stop bullying, they’ll just punish teens for being teens. It’s only if parents and teachers actually pay attention and catch the REALLY bad stuff that the kind of bullying that leads to suicides will stop.

Anyway, I feel bad for her. It’s too bad her family was too busy ignoring her to realize she might be serious.

Exactly! I stopped short of directly blaming them because COUNT RACKULA! YOU’RE SO INSENSITIVE! THEY’RE HURTING!!! But yes, I completely agree.

It’s really more of a squishing. Like the sound those little water filled blob thingies make, the ones that look like you’re jacking something off when you’re playing with ‘em. They kinda look like a colorful, limp dick. God what the fuck are those called. They’re squishy. :-/

Then your daughter is definitely fortunate to have such a vigilant & intelligent parent. Were if only more like you, we might not have this epidemic of suicides that we do. Unfortunately, not all parents are like you, & given the info we have …. Her previous screams for help went either unnoticed or were not taken seriously … and these children are under constant attack. The sheer volume & the lack of a safe haven can drive children to where it led this one.
I agree with you … we need to empower our children so they can learn to deal with this. But we can only do so much. I think the bigger responsibility lies with the parents of the children who think it’s ok to torment others to the point where they feel the only escape is death. They know their kids are bullies so much of the time, but they’re proud of them. They think it’s cool, they think their kids are doing the bullied a favour by toughening them up to be ready for the real world.
Kids can’t be completely sheltered from bullies, & they /do/ need to learn how to deal with it, because those schoolyard bullies often grow up into conference room bullies. Life isn’t fair & they have to learn how to deal with that so they’re not crippled as adults, fooled into thinking that the world will treat them fairly. Like I said, more parents should be like you. Or like you to some extent. But most of them, or at least too many of them, aren’t. And those are the kids we need to save. x

No flames from me; I COULD NOT AGREE MORE.

I haven’t read any of the comments yet, so forgive me if I echo anyone’s else’s sentiments or offend anyone’s delicate sensibilities with what I am about to say. This is horrifying. I feel for her family and their confusion and pain. I don’t know that they didn’t do all they could possibly do so I will give them the benefit of the doubt for now. And I also feel for the poor girl who thought this was ever any kind of answer, BUT to step in front of a bus and involve even more people, especially strangers, in your planned death screams drama queen/attention seeker to me. She wanted attention for what she did and I don’t mean she needed attention and was reaching for help this way. She was doing that with her FB posts and text messages. This was drama, and it takes a special kind of crazy to go to these lengths. Mostly I feel for the driver of the bus, and any passengers and pedestrians that had to witness this.

I admit that I am not sure of every law in every state, but as far as I know, it’s not illegal for them to date. Just to have sex.

Now granted, I’d be hard pressed to find a couple of kids, especially a 19 year old boy, who wasn’t having sex. I was just being technical about the term „dating”. They can legally date their little hearts out & share all the sodas down at the corner drugstore they like & even hold hands at the movies if they like. Maybe a goodnite kiss on the porch under the light whilst daddy watches from behind the curtain.
But touch her boobies & you’re goin to prison, son.

I think you’re absolutely right, although, I think even kissing would be illegal, in many circumstances. But holding hands wouldn’t be. That said, I didn’t lose my V-card until I met my (now) husband.  The 19 year old boyfriend (Garrett) had turned 19 over the course of our short relationship and was still living w/mom.  She straight up told him, “You will NOT sleep with that girl under MY roof!”, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to happen at my house… So, yeah, our relationship was brief. Boys that age have needs.

Truly not meaning to be argumentative here, so please don’t take it such, but I’ve actually had a lot of experience in this very subject … the legalities & whatnot … and /as far as I know/, kissing isn’t illegal. Of course, that entirely depends on who is actually kissing what body part, but good ole fashion snogging is still legal, much to the chagrin of fathers everywhere.

But yeah. Like you said, boys that age, & even girls that age, have needs, & I’d be hard pressed to find kids that age not goin at it, but there are still some chaste kids around, & those relationships aren’t illegal. It’s all semantics, tho, & I totally know what you meant. But then again, law is all about semantics.

Needs … I got em.

1 less douchebag drama queen out there, hope the bus didn’t take much damage.

I was bullied when I was in high school …but nowadays kids go too far. Nowadays you piss off kids at school they beat you up and post the beating on youtube for everyone to laugh at…or they create a facebook or some other online page dedicated to making fun of you….or they just stab or sexually assault you.

You couldn’t pay me to be a teacher today…today’s children are evil.

Anyone have the Facebook page? Couldn’t find it. Not a memorial page, but her actual page?!

Some people don’t have the coping skills or support system in place to deal with life’s problems.

Maybe suicide is selfish but I don’t want to cast stones at people for that…if I ever became homeless, or lost my family, or became crippled or deformed…I would probably do it.

I never feel comfortable bashing people who commit suicide…I can see myself falling into the same trap…

Water weenies I think they’re called. Some are big, need two people to carry them around. Cue inappropriate thoughts. 

I knew the name would have to do with dicks, lol.

I have difficulty feeling TOO bad for bullied suicides.  The appropriate responce to bullying is to find something heavy and crack the bully in the head with it.  If there’s more than one, hit the next in order while they’re still surprised.  Yeah, you’ll be in trouble.  But bullies want a victim.  It’s hard to make you a victim if they’re getting the shit knocked out of them.  Bonus points if they literally DO shit themselves.

Offing yourself just shouts “you win” to the douchebags that torment you. 

Don’t get dead; get even.

What a pretty girl. Sad that she thought this was it for her…I wish I could tell every sad teenager in the world that in 15 years, none of that stuff will matter one bit.  Parents need to be proactive…if my kid was posting stuff like that, I’d be on it like a puma. 

Stepping in front of a bus/train/something psychologically puts your death in someone else’s hands.  Some can’t do the killing action themselves so they unfortunately involve someone else.  You see quite a bit of it in suicides really.  Usually in the form of, “I’m going to ___.  If ___ doesn’t happen on the way, I’ll jump/step on the tracks/leap into traffic/etc”

I can agree with that too. I do still feel that suicide is selfish, but I think that people should have the choice. It’s like you said though, leaving a mess or involving other people in the mess is what I can’t comprehend.

Suicide /is/ selfish, but I think it’s just wrong to look at them & say they were weak, awful people. Like you said, some people just don’t have the skills to cope, for many reasons, & the answer isn’t to look down on them & blame them. It’s not a place they chose to be, & it’s a nightmarish place to live. I think you get that better than a lot of the morally superiour people who blame them & just call them selfish jerks.
However, I would like to add something. I became disabled, or crippled, & whilst a lot of people want to pity me & feel sorry for me, I assure them it’s not necessary. I’m lucky enough to have a decent outlook on life, & I can tell you from experience that it’s not the worst thing in the world. I’ve been down to the depths of considering suicide at different times in my life, but never about this. That’s not to say that everyone feels the way I do, but I just wanted to make the point that even being crippled isn’t as bad as it may seem. x

I very much enjoy discussing & debating topics, but most people are too determined to just be right & don’t stop long enough to stop & listen to anyone else & possibly learn something. They’d much rather scream & yell & insult. And heaven forbid they allow another person to make a mistake or misspeak somehow & move on from it.
Isn’t ‘mature cyber conversation’ kind of like ‘jumbo shrimp’ in its oxymoron-ness? xD

Generally speaking, suicides are very private. I can agree that there are probably suicidal people who cannot do the actual act themselves so choose to have indirect help through other people or objects, but there are some that just need to make a big production of it. It’s my belief that these are generally the same ones that may actually believe that they will be able to view themselves and other people at their own funerals and see the impact their death had on people, especially the person (or people) they were striking out at and trying to punish by dying. All suicides cannot be put into the same little mold and be made to fit.

Nope, the problem is that you can’t kick those little bastards’ ass as a teacher.

I remember when sister Agripina was able to kick my ass in general and then my mom gave her permission to do so… NO ONE FUCKED AROUND/NEXT/NEAR HER.

Who cares about being insensitive? I am so sick of these parents desperately grasping at straws to blame someone. Yes, bullying sucks, but I don’t know anyone who wasn’t bullied at some point in their childhood. 
I have bipolar disorder, anxiety and panic disorder, obsessive compulsive tendencies, and PTSD. I was abused for so long as a child my brain was awash in chemicals and hormones that weren’t conducive to healthy development. So I really feel for this child, I really do because I know what’s it’s like to be there. However, suicide is no one’s fault but the person who kills themselves.I don’t care what the circumstance of the suicide is. Ultimately, the decision to end your life starts and stops with you. 
Perhaps her parents could have been more on the ball, she obviously had problems. Her boyfriend could have stayed with her out of some fear obligation. Perhaps the kids at school might have been nicer. That still doesn’t place the blame for the final outcome at anyone’s feet, but her own.

You know, that’s what I was wondering myself.  Isn’t a 19 year old messing around with a 15 year old RAPE?  And something else that is bothering me – who has a 15 year old and doesn’t monitor their facebook page if they even allow them to have one?  I dumped FB almost a year ago and haven’t looked back.  Too much to lose and nothing to gain.  Do you really care about what your “friends” you haven’t seen in 10 or 20 years are up to?  Thought not.  I didn’t after I realized what a waste of time that site had become to me in various ways…

In my neck of the woods we called them water willies too.

I got this kid whose older brother I was friends with kicked out of my high school. I played a prank on him, he got revenge by hiring a group of guys to beat me up…so he got expelled (not my intent) but I lied my ass off to cover my tracks.

A part of always wonders if he’s going to become a mass murderer one day and I’m going to be in a article blurb or on one of those dateline type shows as part of his backstory as the thing that set him down the path to the dark side.

I’ve always wondered if I should blame myself for whatever happens to him or not.

It wouldn’t be “rape,” but legally, it would be statutory rape.

To me if you’re going to kill yourself you should jump off a bridge…your family won’t have to clean up that mess

See, that I wouldn’t classify as selfish. I guess part of my feelings on it stem from a person in my life that would repeatedly threaten suicide to get what he wanted. Of course we took him seriously each time because we didn’t want him to feel like he wasn’t cared for, but he also learned that and he held it over our heads. I also knew someone who shot herself in the head in front of her boyfriend because he wouldn’t propose to her in the spot. I can’t generalize every suicide attempt or suicidal person as selfish, and that is how my original post sounds. Hell, I don’t even agree with me haha.

Killing yourself because life is so miserable is one thing. Everyone has their limits. But when I describe ‘selfish’ in the context of what I believe this teen did is different. Let me explain.

I remember working at a big-box retail store long ago. And I knew a nice girl there, casual work-acquaintance, nothing more. She dumped her boyfriend apparently, and then that dude blew himself away – it was quite the local drama. Messed the girl up for quite some time emotionally as you could guess.

And that’s why boyfriend did it. Not because he was miserable, but because he wanted to make his ex miserable. He wanted to force her to care about him although she had moved on, make everyone care and suffer a little. Be the center of attention.

That is not ending a life so miserable; that is naive, narcissistic self-destruction by someone trying to use the end of their own life as an emotional weapon on others.

That is tragic and sad, but it is greedy and short-sighted as well. And I think that was big part of what drove this kid to do what she did. Totally different from ending a life ‘not worth living.’

Shit, now I need a fake profile. I have to be careful one of my boyfriends has a public career.

Oh, come on. I won’t spam your wall with too many nudes! And I’ll only stalk you a little bit!

Oh no, I know what you mean. I didn’t think you were endorsing it. I just mean that you don’t know what you can deal with until you deal with it. I kind of thought the same way you did. I was an athlete growing le to cope with it. My mates & I used to always say on the way up to go snowboarding that if we were ever paralyzed, we’d find a way to thing I learned is that I’m not as weak as I thought I was. I’m not you, so I can’t presume to know how you’d feel given the same circumstances, but you’d be surprised at the strength you find you have that you never knew existed. x

I totally agree. I mentioned in another post somewhere that the thought process is sort of „I can’t deal with the pain” & „I’ll show those jerks. I’ll make them care. They’ll regret it now!” The latter is exactly what you said. It can be absolutely revenge.

If only we could create a 3D Venn diagram of all the criminal laws in the U.S., people would see that there is not a single basic objectionable behavior that can’t already be prosecuted under current legislation.

Very well stated

A beautiful and broken girl, It breaks the heart when a young adult turns to the abyss. Killing yourself over a romantic attachment is (to me) never an option. There’s always someone searching for you as you search for them. If all else fails, seek help. medical, emotional or otherwise..

There seems to be no shortage of messed up kids. What is on her lip?

Girl Even Cyberbullied After Death As Family Prepares Funeral

DONGAN HILLS, NY (PIX11)—
Even after their daughter committed suicide following a campaign of harassment, a Staten Island family is still plagued by hateful cyber bullies posting despicable on-line messages by the thousands as they prepare to lay the 15-year-old to rest.Tears and hugs were on display on Staten Island at the A. Azzara Funeral Home Thursday, as the Cummings family said their final goodbyes at the wake of young Amanda Cummings. The high school sophomore succumbed on Monday to injuries she sustained after attempting suicide two days after Christmas by stepping in front of a bus.One teen girl, dressed in somber black, trying to compose herself, worked to find the words to honor her friend. “She always forgave people that treated her badly. She didn’t deserve anything,” she managed to utter before the tears took over and she sought the solace of a friend.Amanda’s family for several weeks has been working with police to identify who bullied her so mercilessly that it drove her to suicide. Family, including her mother and sister, knew fellow students were tormenting her with text and Facebook messages for years, but chose not to report it to school officials at Amanda’s urging. They have broken their silence now.Amanda’s uncle Keith Cummings, has lead the charge. A proud man who seems as though he would rarely shrink from a fight, still struggles to control his emotions as he grapples with the loss of his beloved niece, close in age to his own three children.”We need to find these bullies. Somebody needs to gets brought to justice. Somebody,” Cummings implores.The family contends it was a dangerous cocktail of cyberbullying, heartache over losing a boyfriend, and the emotional turmoil that often arises during teen years that drove Amanda to such a level of despondency she penned a suicide letter, tucked it into her pocket, told her mother with a smile she was going to visit a friend and then jumped in front of a moving bus on December 27th.Hateful messages have continued to plague Amanda and her family — one page set up as a tribute to her has been overrun with ugly messages — there were 7,500 contributors, some leaving posts about Amanda’s death with the phrase LOL. Police continue to maintain that bullying is not the cause of Amanda’s death — friends are begging them to keep investigating.One family friend and mother of a teenager was outspoken. Michelle Gatti had a simple solution to finding the cyber bullies. “Put an undercover cop in New Dorp High School for a day, a week, and they’ll see plenty.”And a high school senior, Mike Leckow, spelled it out as well, “The police claim they have so much technology, go behind the IP addresses and I guarantee they’ll lead back to New Dorp High School.”Amanda’s family closed her Facebook account after her mother claims someone hacked her own login to write an angry message yesterday wishing that people would die and suffer.[...]Does more police work need to be done? “Without a doubt,” he answered. “Without a doubt.”

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/wpix-girl-cyberbullied-even-after-suicide,0,7633751.story

Thank you for saying that JGo555.  Not every suicide is for selfish reasons.  There are those with terminal illnesses that decide when they want to leave this world because they don’t want to put their loved ones through any more pain and suffering.

I also believe that most of the time, suicidal ideations and/or attempts correlates with age.  A younger person might do it because of the intense pain they feel from rejection, lonliness, unloved, unworthly etc.

An older person might do it to spare family members of living through an ordeal.

There are cultural aspects that may or may not come into play as well, i.e. “saving face”.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel horrible for her family. I totally understand why they’re using bullying as a scapegoat, and I don’t blame them for needing an emotional crutch to get through this. But it is just scapegoating. This girl obviously had issues that needed acknowledged and dealt with, beyond peer harassment.

Ok here goes.

Yes, we were bullied. Yes, we survived.

But you’d be a fool to not realize that the world is massively different from when we were kids.

When I was a kid and being bullied, I could come home from school, shut myself in my bedroom, turn my stereo up loud, and escape for a while. Facebook and smartphones hadn’t invaded our homes yet.

Now there is NO escape. You could move to Thailand, and the bastards could still get to you. And now kids, and even adults, seem so ruthless and intent on actually harming people, mentally and physically. Looking back, I realize most of the kids who bullied me were just bored, stupid, harmless little nitwits with no creative outlets. Now, they’re roving packs of meglomaniac twats hellbent on setting fire to the world.

Times have changed. We need to change how we view bullying.

See I guess to me it’s situational. That, and I’m hopped up on pain meds from surgery a couple days ago, so I keep getting responses to posts that I don’t remember writing…

I’m sorry but I have to beg (insist) to differ here.  The parents are obligated to protect and nurture their offspring.  

Science shows that the human brain is not fully developed until at least the early 20′s.  Therefore, out of simple obligations, even if the kid says they wish to die, the parents and relatives, teachers, friends, etc. needed to step up.  But primarily the parents.  The kid had how many FB friends?  How many people looked over and ignored her posts?

Who knows what this baby could have become, who she could have loved, how much happiness she could have enjoyed … if she had been PROTECTED FROM HERSELF in re: to suicide and helped to get better life skills.

I agree with you wholeheartedly on the blame game … based on what I read here there were plenty of signs for the adults in this young lady’s life to pick up on.  They dropped the ball.

Anyone who read the posts and did nothing, YOU DROPPED THE BALL.

I have to stand up for this girl when it comes to you saying she is to blame for that final choice.  That choice to die was not made by a fully developed person.  She was a child.  A child will do things that are irrational and dangerous, and not comprehend the final outcome of their actions.  A child will relate dying to sleeping, and think it may be a ‘break’ from the troubles they face.  They may believe and hope that maybe if they do just one more thing, push the envelope again, that someone will HEAR AND HELP them. 

Amanda deserves at least for someone out here to notice that she was overlooked and left to her own destruction.  Not her fault.

My sympathy to those that actually learn from this and strive to do better by the kids they encounter in the future  …. Just my 2cents Dangerous  :)

Sounds uberfun. Feel better soon.

Yea right, probably just because she was a bit Goth.

Wish i could like that one 100 times, how true it is. I post at work, as i forbid a computer in my home, just for the simple fact that i do not want my kids on ASSSPACE, or CRACKBOOK. used to have 2 at home, as soon as i saw my kids (and the wife) getting their lives taken over by CRACKBOOK, i confiscated both and in the dumpster they went, after a good smashing with a baseball bat.  were they pissed ? you betcha, i did not care. I do not, never had, and never will have a puter at home. since then, were 100% more of a family, alot less stress, tension, and drama. GO FUCK YOURSELF CRACKBOOK !! not my family.

I was very proactive when my son was only 6 and bullying started because of his red hair, he went through yrs of bullying and it basically tore apart his self esteem, i was constantly at the school filing complaints but in the 90′s it didnt matter, i even tried changing schools they wouldnt allow it even though we have 4 elemenatry schools in town, believe me until your 6 yr old tells you he just wants to die you dont know how bad the school admins handle this issue, even now its still bad because both kuds get punished even the victim, he is now in the army but he never was himself, i was bullied every school day of my life and being in an abusive home didnt help either

I do as well. I don’t know if it seemed like I don’t feel bad for them, I think this situation is horribly tragic. But I agree with you one hundred percent.

I have sympathy for her and her family, but this could have just as easily gone horribly wrong in another way…people on that bus could’ve been killed and SHE could’ve survived, and we’d be looking at yet another situation similar to the one where the young woman drove her car into the other one to commit suicide, and the occupants of the other vehicle were killed instead….and as in the other case, there would be little sympathy for her and I’m sure many comments would have a different tone.

And I’d be interested to know if her parents were monitoring her FB? She’s dating a much older person, commenting about wanting to kill herself, has a history of it…damn if I’d let my kid have a private FB that I couldn’t get into and didn’t monitor, much less if my child also had these issues. This girl should’ve been hospitalized. I’m all for antibullying legistlation, and strict punishment for those who do bully, but this is the wrong case to pick as an example. IMO, this has nothing to do with bullying…it has to do with a breakup and underlying issues that had been festering for some time.

Well I hope that your children and wife have access to the internet someplace else as you do. Your wife is a grown woman who can make her own choices as to what she chooses to do online. You couldn’t have moved one of the computers into your bedroom and limited the kids access to it? Yes, there is a lot of crap on the internet but it’s also a very useful tool. I can’t even count how many times I’ve saved time, money, and energy because I have the internet at my fingertips. Not to mention all that I’ve learned. Children need to know how to use the internet to get by in this world. For example, my college has nothing on paper anymore. EVERYTHING is done on the web, application, registration..they don’t even print up student handbooks or course schedules anymore.  

I agree with most of you here.  WHERE THE HELL WERE HER PARENTS!  She is 15 years old.  My daughter will be 15 next month.   I’m on her facebook and monitor it reguarly.  Not to mention I have full access to her accounts.   If my kid were posting stuff like that on a public forum I would have to interviene and do SOMETHING!    Nothing is worth taking your life over and talk like that would disturb me.  .   She once told me she was going to kill herself because I wouldn’t let her do something she wanted to do.  My response was put on your shoes.   When she asked why I told her I was taking her to the hospital.   She of course relented and said she really wasn’t going to kill herself but she was angry.   She has never threatened it again.   

  I don’t fuck around with threats of sucide or sucidal behavior.  Most people think when someone threatens they are just looking for attention and sometimes they are but as a parent you cannot mess around these days.    I think the most important thing is being there.   My kid got bullied a lot when we first moved back to Michigan from California.   It didn’t help that my kid has a big mouth but she was really affected by it.   It didn’t help this was shortly after her dad passed away (kids can be real cruel with that one) but I think she managed to work her way through it because she had a stable home life and was able to bounce her pre-teen issues off me and I could help her find ways to cope and make friends.   I was also able to help her see what was good so she wasn’t left to dwell in the bad and self loathing.     This girl obviously did not have the same support system.   All it takes is one person to listen and care.    This girls parents are looking for a scape goat.   I bet they feel guilty for not knowing what was going on with her and not doing anything to prevent this.

Exactly! I agree that the family is putting this on bullying to assuage their own guilt over not having listened to their daughter’s cries for help. Parents everywhere need to look at cases like this one and see how important it is for them to listen to their kids. 

Oh I know, I love goth. especially when the wife goes super goth for role playing…..HOT stuff !!

Sounds to me like it started in the family. Lack of family support made her boyfriend her everything.
And the bullying harder to tolerate.. I don’t understand why families in these situations don’t put the kid in ANOTHER SCHOOL. 
But anyhow, legislation for anti online bullying is only a smokescreen for giving up free speech rights online. It’s not the answer. Politically motivated fascism masqueraded as “caring so deeply for hurting teens” makes me sick.

Cops say no bullying involved

A despondent Staten Island girl who committed suicide by jumping in front of a bus last month was not bullied by her classmates, a police investigation has found.

Numerous interviews with close friends and family members have yielded no proof that torment from fellow teens caused Amanda Cummings, 15, to kill herself two days after Christmas, multiple law-enforcement sources said.

“No one had any previous signs of her being bullied,” said one source with knowledge of the case.

A 15-year-old girl who had been friends with Cummings since the age of 3 told investigators that her friend fell hard for boys and took breakups very badly, sources said. She also said Cummings had recently been drinking and smoking heavily, the sources added.

Another classmate, a 15-year-old boy, said Cummings had threatened to kill herself in the fall after a brief hookup ended, sources said.

He said Cummings sobbed uncontrollably after the split, wandered into traffic near the high school and said she was going to jump in front of a bus, the sources added.

Cummings had long battled depression, sources said, and was hospitalized in 2009 for cutting herself. But nothing in the psych records attributes her despondent mood to bullying, sources added.

In her suicide note, Cummings gave no hint that she was being badgered and, instead, blamed herself for ruining another relationship, sources said.

“I’m sorry I got between you and Becca’s friendship,” reads part of the four-page letter Cummings wrote to 19-year-old Devon Rodriguez, a boy she was pursuing, sources said. The girl mentioned is Rodriguez’s presumed other love interest, Rebecca Natali, 15, sources said.

“I don’t deserve to live,” reads oversized print on the final page, sources added.

Cummings’ mother, Cecile Weber, told detectives she is unsure why the teen’s uncle, Keith Cummings, made claims that her daughter had been harassed, sources said.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/staten_island/suicide_bully_bogus_TxBAQtopgbYSuQCHWI0hPM

Cops say no bullying involved

A despondent Staten Island girl who committed suicide by jumping in front of a bus last month was not bullied by her classmates, a police investigation has found.

Numerous interviews with close friends and family members have yielded no proof that torment from fellow teens caused Amanda Cummings, 15, to kill herself two days after Christmas, multiple law-enforcement sources said.

“No one had any previous signs of her being bullied,” said one source with knowledge of the case.

A 15-year-old girl who had been friends with Cummings since the age of 3 told investigators that her friend fell hard for boys and took breakups very badly, sources said. She also said Cummings had recently been drinking and smoking heavily, the sources added.

Another classmate, a 15-year-old boy, said Cummings had threatened to kill herself in the fall after a brief hookup ended, sources said.

He said Cummings sobbed uncontrollably after the split, wandered into traffic near the high school and said she was going to jump in front of a bus, the sources added.

Cummings had long battled depression, sources said, and was hospitalized in 2009 for cutting herself. But nothing in the psych records attributes her despondent mood to bullying, sources added.

In her suicide note, Cummings gave no hint that she was being badgered and, instead, blamed herself for ruining another relationship, sources said.

“I’m sorry I got between you and Becca’s friendship,” reads part of the four-page letter Cummings wrote to 19-year-old Devon Rodriguez, a boy she was pursuing, sources said. The girl mentioned is Rodriguez’s presumed other love interest, Rebecca Natali, 15, sources said.

“I don’t deserve to live,” reads oversized print on the final page, sources added.

Cummings’ mother, Cecile Weber, told detectives she is unsure why the teen’s uncle, Keith Cummings, made claims that her daughter had been harassed, sources said.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/staten_island/suicide_bully_bogus_TxBAQtopgbYSuQCHWI0hPM