Greenville, S.C. – A grievous tale of prolonged bullying in Greenville, South Carolina, has led to a harrowing incident involving Kelaia Turner, a 14-year-old girl who tragically attempted suicide at the age of 12 after enduring relentless torment from fellow students at Dr. Phinnize J. Fisher Middle School. According to a lawsuit filed by her family, the abuse spanned over a year, involving both physical and verbal elements, and culminated in a suicide attempt that left Turner with severe brain damage.
The lawsuit, which implicates the school district and several faculty members, claims negligence in their failure to curb the bullying despite repeated complaints from Turner’s parents. The complaint goes into distressing detail about the nature of the taunts and the physical abuse she endured, which reportedly began over something as trivial as her natural hairstyle, leading to derogatory names and social exclusion.
On a particularly distressing note, the lawsuit alleges that one of the aggressors took the opportunity to photograph Kelaia while she was intubated in the ICU following her suicide attempt, subsequently circulating these images on social media platforms to further mock her.
Her mother, Ty Turner, expressed to the media that the phrases taught about the harmlessness of words did not hold true in their devastating experience. The repeated derogatory comments and outright bullying led Kelaia to see no other escape but through suicide, illustrating the severe impact verbal abuse can have on mental health.
Further issues highlighted in the lawsuit include an instance where Turner was suspended instead of her tormentor following a physical altercation. This incident, alongside other reported failures by the school’s administration to act against the bullying, even when a racially insensitive video was played in class, forms the basis of the family’s negligence claims against the district and staff.
The lawsuit also paints a solemn picture of Turner’s current situation: due to the brain damage suffered, she now faces severe disability. Her family is seeking damages to cover a wide range of needs including medical bills, psychiatric care, special education, and other life care expenses, which are necessary due to her loss of bodily control and other psychological injuries.
Greenville County Schools, while expressing sympathy for the Turner family, has countered the allegations, stating the district conducted a thorough investigation at the time the complaints were filed and disagrees with the claims presented in the lawsuit.
As of now, the case brings to light significant concerns about how bullying is handled in educational institutes and the measures taken to protect students from such harm. Meanwhile, a crowdfunding campaign set up to assist with the substantial financial burden faced by the Turner family has gathered significant support from the community.
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