United States

Family of Bullied Ohio Boy Who Committed Suicide Sues School

During the Jan. 24 incident, the suit says, a classmate knocked Gabriel unconscious before other students kicked, poked and stepped on him

The family of Gabriel Taye, the 8-year-old boy who killed himself in January after a bullying attack, has sued the child's school over the circumstances of Gabriel's bullying, NBC News reported.

The 41-page lawsuit filed Monday in federal district court in Cincinnati says the school only notified the boy's mother after he had recovered completely from an assault in the school bathroom. 

The suit says this withholding "prevented his mother from seeking appropriate treatment. Had she known of the extreme violence at Carson, she never would have continued to send him to school there."

During the Jan. 24 incident, the suit says, a classmate knocked Gabriel unconscious before other students kicked, poked and stepped on him. Gabriel hung himself from his bunk bed two days later.

The school did not respond to a request for comment. The district previously said that school officials didn’t know Gabriel was attacked, and that he initially told a nurse that he fell.

Gabriel’s family discovered that he’d been assaulted after their lawyers reviewed police documents that described a surveillance video. No criminal charges were filed in connection with Gabriel’s death.

SUICIDE PREVENTION HELP: The National Suicide Prevention Hotline (1-800-273-8255) is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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