The New York Times reports:
Phoebe Prince, the 15-year-old who killed herself after relentless taunting, spent her final days in fear of girls who had threatened to beat her up, according to the first official accounts released in a case in Massachusetts that gained wide attention last week, when six students were charged with felonies.
Ms. Prince, who entered South Hadley High last fall after moving from Ireland, was in emotional torment after weeks of being called an “Irish slut” and other names, and also became increasingly worried about the loudly voiced physical threats, students told investigators. She told a friend that she was “not a tough girl” and “would not know how to fight,” and at one point she asked friends to surround her as she walked in the hall.
The documents were prepared by the district attorney for the Northwestern District in Massachusetts in support of charges against three 16-year-old students. They provide the first detailed accounts of verbal abuse and physical threats that prosecutors say were heaped upon Ms. Prince right up to the afternoon of Jan. 14, when she walked home crying and hanged herself from a stairwell.
They also describe evidence suggesting that some teachers and administrators had known for weeks about the harassment but failed to stop it, a contention that school officials have disputed.
The 40 pages of documents summarize the alleged crimes of the three girls who were arraigned Thursday in Hadley — Ashley Longe, Flannery Mullins and Sharon Chanon Velazquez. They have been charged as youthful offenders with felonies including violation of civil rights and stalking, and have also been charged with similar crimes under juvenile laws. Three other students — Sean Mulveyhill, 17, Kayla Narey, 17, and Austin Renaud, 18 — have been charged as adults, including charges of statutory rape against the two male students. The accused students have pleaded not guilty.
More: "
Documents Detail a Girl’s Final Days of Bullying"
"Irish slut"?!?! I've never heard of that kind of racist stereotype; probably her tormentors were just plain racist or full of hate in general.
"Mullins"? "Mulveyhill"? These sound Irish or English in origin. This makes this bullying case all the much worse in that one or two of her tormentors were perhaps some self-hating British or Irish youth. I'm not gonna play the race card here; anyone who torments an innocent teen (citizen or immigrant) like that is a monster. Phoebe Prince was actually born in England but moved to Ireland before immigrating to the US.
Finally, as school admin is accused of ignoring what they knew about the harassment I'd like to show you a couple of other recent posts on DU about cases where leadership knew of issues but did nothing about them.
George W. Bush 'knew Guantánamo prisoners were innocentToyota Documents Show It Knew of Pedal Flaws in 2006 (3 1/2 years before it recalled cars and trucksWhat is WRONG with the world these days? ARGH :mad: :puke: :banghead: