The father of a 14-year-old New Jersey girl who took her own life last week, days after being bullied at school, says if the district had taken action sooner, his daughter might be alive.
“She loved life. She was the happiest kid. Everybody love her,” Michael Kuch said Thursday.
Kuch is heartbroken. He said his daughter, Adriana, died by suicide after a disturbing video was posted on social media showing a number of students attacking her as she walked with her boyfriend in a hallway at Central Regional High School in the Bayville section of Berkeley Township.
“They just kept at it, after they jumped her. They would keep sending her videos. Then they would get screen shots of the videos because the videos kept getting taken down and then they would write nasty comments on it,” Kuch said.
Dr. Triantafillos Parlapanides, superintendent of schools, said, “We always address every issue of bullying and on the day of the incident four students were suspended.”
Kuch said police should have been called immediately because the students, who he said his daughter had been having problems with, smashed her face with a 20-ounce bottle.
He also said his daughter, who had bruises on her body, should’ve been taken to the hospital.
“The school lied to me. They didn’t tell me she was assaulted with a weapon. They didn’t tell me she blacked out. They didn’t call police, even though they had an officer at the school. They told me that was not their policy,” Kuch said.
A freshman and her mother said officials at the school should do more to combat bullying.
“People shouldn’t be scared to go to school and people are scared to go to school now,” Rachel Lingea said.
“It doesn’t stop. Bullying is horrible and Adriana she should be here right now,” mother Christine Lingea added.
School officials said they notified the family and call Adriana’s tragic death horrible, but Kuch is angry.
“If they called the police and did an investigation, those girls would not have posted videos from school,” he said.
Students at the school staged a walkout Wednesday in support of Adriana’s family.
Meanwhile, three girls have been charged with third-degree felony assault and another with disorderly conduct.
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