12-year-old Girl Commits Suicide After Being Body Shamed (Photo)

 

A 12 year-old girl killed herself because a boy at school kept taunting her about her weight, the youngster’s mother claims, Metro UK has reported.

 

Brooklyn Marie Brehm’s mother Maranda Riboli said the youngster left a note after hanging herself in April 2017, saying she had taken her own life ‘because of this boy.’ 

 

Brooklyn’s alleged tormentor, who has not been named, is said to have ‘regularly and frequently fat-shamed’ the youngster and called her names at Elton Gregory Middle School in Redmond, Oregon. 

 

According to a lawsuit filed by Riboli, the boy also ridiculed Brooklyn over a crush she had, claiming the object of her affections would never like her because of her weight. He went on to say that the schoolgirl ‘should kill herself because she was a waste of space and no boy would ever like her.’

 

Brooklyn died two months after her mother emailed and met with the teacher to say she was concerned the bullying was affecting her daughter’s grades. Riboli says Elton Gregory Middle School did not follow its own protocol, because that teacher failed to notify the principal of what was going on. 

 

The grieving mother, who has sued for $12million damages and $35,000 funeral expenses, also alleges the school failed to launch any sort of investigation into the bullying. Riboli says the bully’s behavior caused emotional distress and psychological damage, leading to her death by suicide. She said that was a ‘direct result’ of Redmond School District’s ‘deliberate indifference’ to her rights. 

 

The Redmond School District declined to comment on the specifics of the lawsuit, filed last Thursday, according to The Oregonian.  A spokesman insisted that the school district ‘fosters a supportive learning environment free from bullying.’