Bullied teen couldn't take it anymore.

**Unamused Cat** · October 21st, 2008, 10:51 PM

Jeremiah Lasater: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndid=386644359

ACTON -- Bullying is being blamed for the suicide of a 14-year-old football player at Vasquez High School. Authorities were called to the school at 33630 Red Rover Mine Road, shortly before 1 p.m. Monday, according to county fire department officials.

The victim, Jeremiah Finton Lasater, was found inside a restroom with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, officials said.

No one else was in the bathroom at the time, he said. An estimated 300 students and parents attended a candlelight vigil at the school Monday night to remember the victim, whom some mourners said was often bullied.

Classmate Paige Cummings said the day of Lassiter's suicide, kids were throwing food at him.

"One of the kids that is here stood up for him, and basically told the other kids throwing things, told them off, told them to stop," Cummings said. Another student said the teen was "tormented by endless teasing". Another unidentified student said he was known as a "gentle giant".

The victim was reportedly a special needs student who played Junior Varsity football. Lasater also has an older brother who attends the same school.

Angry parents are calling on the school to take steps to stop bullying and teasing of students before another tragedy occurs.

http://www.ktla.com/content_landing_...726&feedID=171

And for the record, I loathe bullies.

**Nell** · October 22nd, 2008, 12:50 AM

Bunch of cowardly motherfuckers. I hope they feel like shit forever. At least the one kid stuck up for him, and he didn't go thinking no one cared.

**MadmamainNC** · October 22nd, 2008, 01:08 AM

OK this thread actually has me shaking. My son was bullied in school and when he went to play football the bitch mother of the main bully told her son that now he can legally beat my son up on the field. Wanna know what the school did about it? NOTHING! Those darling football players make them money and many of the teachers and coaches turn a blind eye. They just breed more of the same.

This assfuck that tormented my son, continued until my son dropped out of school. This went on from 5th grade till 11th.
Well, guess what? The spoiled little fuck killed himself right before graduation. They found him hanging from his diving board first thing in the morning. His equally dysfunctional sister went to school that same day and told all her friends as if it was the "coolest news". I hated this family with every fiber of my being.

This whole thing infuriates me to no end. I hope these parents scream loud - all the way down to the court house and get a law passed. Because if not, no one is going to hear them.
They should start holding the administration responsible for ignoring the cries of these students who fall victim to this bullshit!

**Unamused Cat** · October 22nd, 2008, 01:42 AM

I have to wonder how many of his tormenters showed up at his candlelight vigil. Now they will have to find another victim. Bah!

**Envy** · October 22nd, 2008, 07:30 PM

Only just got out of high school and away from being bullied so any story still strikes a cord with me. i almost dropped out it was so bad but i knew in my heart and mind that the only way to win was to not give up. i came to school every day just to show them i wasn't going to be stopped. It got worse and never ended, teacher did nothing like the rest of the faculty at either school i went to (catholic and public), so i know what the kids went thru and how little uniforms changed things.

But this is bassackwards. The football players did the bullying not be bullied. This is just different...

**crickett** · October 23rd, 2008, 06:03 AM

The school should have already taken steps to stop the bullying. What punishment is being delivered to students who DO the bullying? What programs are being undertaken to prevent bullying? To increase acceptance of special needs and different persons? This is NOT an isolated event. This sort of tragedy comes about far, far too often. And rarely, if ever, does a school initiate ANY programs to prevent bullying until AFTER a tragedy.
My own son was bulied at his previous school. Despite my contacting the school, NOTHING was done (one of his tormentors grandmother was a teacher there). One day my son SNAPPED in class and delivered a pretty severe beating to TWO of those boys. (YEAH idiots...he's NOT a city boy) THEN the school wanted to take action against my son even though he had NEVER done anything troublesome before. I took them to state court. In the end, TWO teachers were ordered to leave him alone. And the school was placed on the endangered list for state monitoring.
But it never should have been neccessary to take it that far before the school did anything.
May this poor child RIP....I'm sorry they let you down at that school...

**Envy** · October 23rd, 2008, 10:25 AM

the closest i have ever seen one of my schools attempt to stop bullying was when we had a guest speaker. It was on the Columbine Massacre and one of the victims sisters was touring schools across the nation to speak about the problems with bullying. Now i'm not saying it had the desired affect on half of the student pop. but most of me and my tortured friends could see through her bullshit. Her sister was a cheerleader who was loved by everybody, she was prom and homecoming queen and all that other bs. Like i said before, the bullies are the upper social standing classmen and women. The bullying lessened for a week and then resumed.

Teachers will only stop bullying if the catch the kid physically beating another to the ground. Thats why i loved having subs. i snapped once when a kid stole my stuff and threw him back three rows yelling at him to give it back. The sub, who was right behind him (about 6 rows back in the classroom), just widened his eyes and backed away from me as i picked the kid up and asked again. I got my stuff back and sub told me never to do that again. He also mentioned to the class that it was probably not a good idea to take my stuff.

But i digress, the whole point is: Jocks and cheerleaders get away with shit scot-free and the rest of us pay. Its a fact of life in high school. Catholic schools go by a majority vote and if enough kids say that something didn't happen or another is lying, nothing will be done about it.

**Peeperann** · October 23rd, 2008, 10:46 AM

I hate bullies, just hate them. I was never bullied and neither were my children. (If one one had been my middle daughter probably would have beat the crap out them, she's a tough little cookie, she once threw her ex boyfriend into his locker)!

But I went to school with a girl named April. She was tormented every day I can remember since grade school. Now, I hung out with everyone, the cool kids, the stoners, the jocks, everyone.

And I started to include April and told them to shut their fat mouths. (People would stick notes to her back and stuff, she was kind of homely) But that was no excuse. Finally after I started including her, people found out she was funny as hell and smart. And they stopped.

She told me a few years ago at a reunion that if it hadn't been for me doing that, she may have killed herself it was so bad.

I would never allow any of my children to act that way and the parents and school officials are just as responsilbe for this boys death as the tormentors are.

We have to get laws passed!! No young person should have to do something like this just to get away from these tards....

God I just am so angry right now, I want to puke......

**RockRGrl** · October 23rd, 2008, 12:06 PM

I was taught growing up to be respectful to everyone and I always have been, not because if I was bullying someone my parents would have killed me, but because I wanted to be that way. It's just who I am to be nice, polite and respectful to everybody. I hope that I have installed the same beliefs in my boys because there would hell to pay if I ever found out my kid was bullying another kid!!

**sorrow_discord** · October 23rd, 2008, 12:36 PM

Lots of states actually have passed laws. The sad thing is that children and the parents of children who are bullied are most of time not aware of that or the fact that many lawsuits have met with success when it comes to schools not taking action when it comes to bullies.

**crickett** · October 23rd, 2008, 01:35 PM

Originally Posted by Envy

the closest i have ever seen one of my schools attempt to stop bullying was when we had a guest speaker. It was on the Columbine Massacre and one of the victims sisters was touring schools across the nation to speak about the problems with bullying. Now i'm not saying it had the desired affect on half of the student pop. but most of me and my tortured friends could see through her bullshit. Her sister was a cheerleader who was loved by everybody, she was prom and homecoming queen and all that other bs. Like i said before, the bullies are the upper social standing classmen and women. The bullying lessened for a week and then resumed.

Teachers will only stop bullying if the catch the kid physically beating another to the ground. Thats why i loved having subs. i snapped once when a kid stole my stuff and threw him back three rows yelling at him to give it back. The sub, who was right behind him (about 6 rows back in the classroom), just widened his eyes and backed away from me as i picked the kid up and asked again. I got my stuff back and sub told me never to do that again. He also mentioned to the class that it was probably not a good idea to take my stuff.

But i digress, the whole point is: Jocks and cheerleaders get away with shit scot-free and the rest of us pay. Its a fact of life in high school. Catholic schools go by a majority vote and if enough kids say that something didn't happen or another is lying, nothing will be done about it.

Well...it probably wasn't a good idea to take your stuff. That's about what happened to my son. Later he took on two boys on the bus, even though my son had a broken shoulder, he came out on top.
Then they found out who his sister was and EVERYONE backed off. Oddly, the elementary and high schools shared the same campus. His sister was 5'3 and weighed 110 lbs. She bench pressed 180# and threw fast pitch at 70 MPH. She had tried out for and MADE the boys football team. Nothing and no one scared her....she was once in a fight with another girl...the principal told me that they couldn't tell who started it or what happened as
A) It was out of camera range
B) Of the 25 or so "witnesses", 22 stated that they were afraid of my daughter and that included boys.
She never backed down and had the reputation of being absolutely psychotic. This isn't necessarily a bad thing at a redneck school. I don't know where she gets that from (uh....yeah)

**crickett** · October 23rd, 2008, 01:37 PM

Originally Posted by Envy

the closest i have ever seen one of my schools attempt to stop bullying was when we had a guest speaker. It was on the Columbine Massacre and one of the victims sisters was touring schools across the nation to speak about the problems with bullying. Now i'm not saying it had the desired affect on half of the student pop. but most of me and my tortured friends could see through her bullshit. Her sister was a cheerleader who was loved by everybody, she was prom and homecoming queen and all that other bs. Like i said before, the bullies are the upper social standing classmen and women. The bullying lessened for a week and then resumed.

Teachers will only stop bullying if the catch the kid physically beating another to the ground. Thats why i loved having subs. i snapped once when a kid stole my stuff and threw him back three rows yelling at him to give it back. The sub, who was right behind him (about 6 rows back in the classroom), just widened his eyes and backed away from me as i picked the kid up and asked again. I got my stuff back and sub told me never to do that again. He also mentioned to the class that it was probably not a good idea to take my stuff.

But i digress, the whole point is: Jocks and cheerleaders get away with shit scot-free and the rest of us pay. Its a fact of life in high school. Catholic schools go by a majority vote and if enough kids say that something didn't happen or another is lying, nothing will be done about it.

Well...it probably wasn't a good idea to take your stuff. That's about what happened to my son. Later he took on two boys on the bus, even though my son had a broken shoulder, he came out on top.
Then they found out who his sister was and EVERYONE backed off. Oddly, the elementary and high schools shared the same campus. His sister was 5'3 and weighed 110 lbs. She bench pressed 180# and threw fast pitch at 70 MPH. She had tried out for and MADE the boys football team. Nothing and no one scared her....she was once in a fight with another girl...the principal told me that they couldn't tell who started it or what happened as
A) It was out of camera range
B) Of the 25 or so "witnesses", 22 stated that they were afraid of my daughter and that included boys. Then they refused to give evidence.
She never backed down and had the reputation of being absolutely psychotic. This isn't necessarily a bad thing at a redneck school. I don't know where she gets that from (uh....yeah)

**crickett** · October 23rd, 2008, 01:38 PM

Shit...hit that damn button twice again

**Desi** · October 23rd, 2008, 04:22 PM

This is Fucking Disgusting!!! High school shouldnt be about shit like this.. Kids go there to learn not to get picked on my punk ass kids! I once saw my whole 10th grade english class pick on one kid, I yelled at some of the girls who knew i wasnt the one to talk back to an the guys i was friends with just left him be, but a good handful of kids just wouldnt leave this poor kid alone... An He ended up snappin... He flug a desk at 4 students an threw a chair... THEN the teacher yelled at HIM!! I had finally had enough an so had a couple other of my friends an we yelled at the teacher about it an than went after those smart mouth girls!:) an for the next 2 terms that kid sat next to me an passed the class with FLYIN colors! the teacher complimented on his change, But we all know why he did better...
He knew someone cared..

No ONE deserves to get bullied!

**Gilbrit** · October 23rd, 2008, 04:37 PM

The victim was reportedly a special needs student who played Junior Varsity football. Lasater also has an older brother who attends the same school.

The school is to blame and anyone else who knew and did nothing.
If I were his parents, that school would have wished they stepped in.

We wonder as a society, why people as adults, go "postal".

**Athena** · October 23rd, 2008, 04:51 PM

There are laws that have been passed at the FEDERAL level. Every school in the country has an anti-harassment policy. Unfortunately, none of that does any good unless faculty is aware there's a problem. For many, they feel that being labeled a snitch would only make their problems worse. As a result, there's only so much school officials can do.

There's nothing we can do to eliminate bullying. What we should do, however, is teach our children to get involved. We should be teaching them from a very young age to notify a teacher if they are aware of bullying going on, just like we teach them how to properly cross a road or respond to strangers. It should be standard.

**sorrow_discord** · October 23rd, 2008, 07:01 PM

I know that a few states do have them, not really sure which ones off the top of my head though. I agree with you Athena, we should teach our children to get involved and we should also teach our children to respect others who are different, even if they may not like that person. Actually the fact that he was a special needs students to me makes this story even worse. They already have a tough enough time being in school without the bullies making it worse.

I think someone before posted asking if any of the kids who bullied went to his vigil, in all honestly I hope that they did and that they understand or at least one day understand that they were the cause for all this.