The Year Of The Bully: Patch 2017 Year-End Review

2017 may be notoriously remembered as the year of the bully, a wicked reflection of a culture of meanness manifested in the public square, the workplace and social media feeds. Nowhere are the effects of bullying felt more keenly than among adolescents and teenagers.

In gut-wrenching headline after headline from one coast to the other, Patch told stories of adolescents and teenagers who have been bullied to death — that is, in the depths of their despair, took their own lives. They include kids like Rosalie Avila, Ashawnty Davis, Mallory Grossman and Sadie Riggs.

When a child’s suicide may end the bullying, it begins an excruciatingly painful journey for parents left to wonder what they could have done to prevent their children’s premature deaths. Here are some of the stories.

13-Year-Old Hangs Herself, But Bullying Killed Her

Rosalie Avila’s dad thought he did the right thing when he moved his family away from the gang wars in Pasadena, California, but 70 miles away in Yucaipa, they faced an “unseen danger,” bullies at 13-year-old Rosalie’s middle school. She hanged herself but, her family said, it was bullying that killed her. “They said she was poor, and she needed to kill herself,” her dad, Freddie Avila, said. “They said she was ugly. What a horrible thing to say: You're ugly, kill yourself."

Family Of Teen Who Killed Herself Has Message For Bullies

From the family of 15-year-old Sadie Riggs, of Bedford, Pennsylvania, came a brutally candid obituary: “To all the bullies out there ... as much as we despise your actions never, ever do we wish for you to feel the paralyzing pain that engulfs our bodies, a pain so severe that it makes the simple act of breathing difficult,” her family wrote. The obituary concluded: "In lieu of flowers, the family of Sadie ask that you be kind to one another."

Family Sues School District Over Bullying That Led To Suicide

The family of Mallory Grossman is suing the Rockaway Public School District following their daughter's suicide in late June, saying the school failed to prevent bullying. "Her classmates used this cellphone to drive her into this tragedy. For months, there was text, there was Snapchat, there was Instagram, for months she was told, she's a loser, she has no friends, and finally, she was even told, 'why don't you kill yourself?'" attorney Bruce Nagel, who is representing the Grossmans, said, calling cyberbullying an epidemic.

‘Bullycide’ Led To 10-Year-Old’s Death, Parents Say

Devastated after a video of her fighting with another child on school grounds, 10-year-old Ahawnty Davis hanged herself, her parents said, calling it “bullycide.” It was her first and only fight, her parents said. Her father, Anthony Davis, said his daughter’s suicide is a clarion call for reform. “We have to stop it and we have to stop it within our kids," he said.

7th Grader Told ‘Kill Yourself’ In Yearbook Message

Instead of the typical “have a good summer” messages and inside jokes usually written in school yearbooks, a middle schooler in Washington State found profane scrawlings and symbols on his pages. "Kill yourself," one of the boy’s classmates wrote. "You should do the world a favor and die," penned another. He texted his mother “goodbye” and went to a local river, intending to carry out his suicide.

Assign Her To Another School, Parent Of Bullied Child Pleads

The mother of a 9-year-old pleaded with school officials in New Jersey to just assign her daughter to another school within the district so she could escape the bullies who taunted her for a year. The school district refused, so Spektor kept her child at home. "Nothing short of bruises or a suicide note would be acceptable evidence that she was being bullied," her mother said. "To be perfectly honest, I don't care if they have sufficient evidence… I am simply asking for her to be moved from that environment so she can return to school."

When Bullies Are Adults: Parents Speak Truth To Power

A high school football coach in Maine was benched after he was accused of telling players to harass an opposing team's quarterback who has two mothers with taunts of "who's your daddy?" every time they tackled him. Gray-New Gloucester Coach Duane Greaton is no longer with the district, school officials confirmed. The married parents of the Yarmouth High School student, Lynn and Stephanie Eckersley-Ray, said several players on the Gray-New Gloucester football team complained to officials at their school. Referees were alerted to the potential the quarterback might be bullied moments before the game started, and it went on as scheduled, with Greaton coaching the game, the reports said. No harassment was reported.

How Facebook Uses AI To Stop Online Suicide
Facebook is using artificial intelligence to identify users of its online community who may be thinking about suicide. The technology will flag posts and live videos in which someone may be expressing thoughts of suicide, and specially trained Facebook employees will review them. In cases where threat seems credible and harm appears imminent, local authorities will be notified, the social media giant said. Facebook and other social media companies offering live-streaming services are under pressure to respond to a disturbing string of reports of people, both kids and adults, who have used their platforms to broadcast their suicides or other incidents in which they harm themselves or others.

Photo of Rosalie Avila courtesy of her family.