Court Documents Reveal Bullied Teen's Final Hours

This is so sad - and infuriating! Court documents made public yesterday reveal that 15-year-old Phoebe Prince took her own life after the last few hours of the school day pushed her to the breaking point, CNN reports. The Massachusetts teen was in a state of despair after being loudly berated in the high school library shortly before school let out. Then, on her way home, a student passing by in a car called her names and threw an empty can at her. CNN's story said that Phoebe Prince was in tears while on her way home, and that she used her cell phone to text message a friend about her situation. Prince allegedly said she was at the end of her rope with the bullying. Her last text went out at 2:48 p.m and she also received two messages after that, but never opened them, according to the documents. Prince hanged herself in the stairwell of her family's apartment in South Hadley, and by 4:55 pm, she was dead.

The 38 pages of court filing also reveal that the day before she took her own life, Phoebe Prince confided in a friend: "School has been close to intolerable lately."

The documents made public on Thursday focus on the alleged actions of the three 16-year-old girls -- Ashley Longe, Flannery Mullins and Sharon Chanon Velazquez. Apparently these individuals were the main tormenters of Phoebe Prince - all because she dated boys who had gone out with two of them! CNN reports that the three have been charged as youthful offenders with felonies including violation of civil rights. Two also have been charged with stalking. In total six individuals have been charged with felonies in connection with the bullying that led to Phoebe Prince's suicide.

In our opinion they should be charged with much more than that!!! Make an example out of them!

Sources:
CNN. Court filing reveals taunted teen's anguish in final hours. April 9th, 2010.

Real-life "Mean Girls" Responsible For Teen's Suicide??!

As more details come to light about the bullied teenager who took her own life in Massachusetts earlier this year, outrage is following. Phoebe Prince, aged 15, hung herself on January 14th after experiencing months of torment by classmates in person and online, a prosecutor said Monday. The teenager had immigrated to South Hadley, MA from Ireland last year and enrolled in high school. Once there, it is alleged she endured three months of vicious bullying and harassment from classmates. The Montreal Gazette published a story on the outrage surrounding this incident and included comments from the local district attorney, who has charged nine students with a variety of crimes, including stalking, harassment and statutory rape. Elizabeth Scheibel is quoted as saying these individuals made Phoebe’s last day alive “tortuous”, adding that she was subjected to both verbal and physical threats. Perhaps the most disturbing part of the Gazette’s article includes mention of a real-life Mean Girls clique, a group that allegedly made Phoebe Prince’s life hell in revenge for dating an older boy. Yes, all that torment over dating someone who is in the “older girls” age group! Isn’t that commonplace in every high school?

That is just as outrageous as it is tragic. Where the F were the teachers, school administrators? According to the Gazette’s report, District attorney Scheibel believes they are indeed at fault for being M.I.A., stating that the bullying had been “common knowledge.” In addition, she says that prior to Phoebe’s death, her mother spoke with at least two school staff members about the harassment her daughter had reported to her. WHAT? That is so ridiculous. If someone were being cornered and harassed everyday by a group of “mean girls”, why wouldn’t someone immediately step in? Aren’t we way past this era of such grade-school level behavior?

Now a young girl is gone because of something that obviously could have been prevented. SO TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!


Sources:
The Montreal Gazette. Shock, anger rock U.S. town after teen bullying suicide. March 30th, 2010.
[Photograph by CNS, Photo Handout]