A 10-year-old Colorado girl was removed from life support on Wednesday after she hanged herself because a kid in her school recorded video of her being bullied by another classmate and then posted the footage onto social media.
Ashawnty Davis was removed from life support on Wednesday after she spent two weeks at Children’s Hospital Colorado following her suicide attempt.
‘It’s just devastating,’ her father, Anthony Davis, told KDVR-TV.
‘She was just a child of joy and she brought joy to everyone.’
A 10-year-old Colorado girl was removed from life support on Wednesday after she hanged herself because a kid in her school recorded video of her being bullied by another classmate and then posted the footage onto social media
Ashawnty Davis was removed from life support on Wednesday after she spent two weeks at Children’s Hospital Colorado following her suicide attempt
In late October, Ashawnty, a fifth-grade student at Sunrise Elementary in Aurora, was involved in a fight after school
In the video, Ashawnty and another girl are seen fighting as a group of kids gathered around to watch
Ashawnty’s mother, Latoshia Harris, says that her daughter confronted a girl who was bullying her. It was recorded by a student and sent to an app called Musical.ly. After the clip was posted to Musical.ly, Ashawnty was subjected to frequent teasing and bullying at school
Two weeks after the clip of the fight was posted to social media, Ashawnty hanged herself in a closet. She then spent another two weeks on life support at Children’s Hospital Colorado
In late October, Ashawnty, a fifth-grade student at Sunrise Elementary in Aurora, was involved in a fight after school.
‘She got into her first ever fight. It was recorded by a student and sent to an app called Musical.ly,’ Davis said.
In the video, Ashawnty and another girl are seen fighting as a group of kids gathered around to watch.
Ashawnty’s mother, Latoshia Harris, says that her daughter confronted a girl who was bullying her.
‘It’s just devastating,’ her father, Anthony Davis (left), told KDVR-TV. ‘She was just a child of joy and she brought joy to everyone’
Harris and Davis are urging other parents to be on the lookout for signs of ‘bullycide’ – or when a child is driven to suicide because of bullying
‘I saw my daughter was scared,’ Harris said.
Harris and Davis showed the clip to KDVR-TV which broadcast parts of it – though the children’s images were muzzed.
‘She was devastated when she found out that it had made it to Musical.ly,’ Davis said.
After the clip was posted to Musical.ly, Ashawnty was subjected to frequent teasing and bullying at school, according to her parents.
They said that the abuse their daughter took turned her into a different person.
Ashawnty could no longer live with the shame.
‘My daughter came home two weeks later and hanged herself in the closet,’ Harris said.
Harris and Davis are urging other parents to be on the lookout for signs of ‘bullycide’ – or when a child is driven to suicide because of bullying.
‘We have to stop it and we have to stop it within our kids,’ Davis said.
‘I want other parents to know that it’s happening,’ Harris said.
‘That was my baby and I love my baby and I just want mothers to listen.’
The Cherry Creek School District which has jurisdiction over Sunrise Elementary issued a statement.
‘This is a heartbreaking loss for the school community,’ the district said.
‘Mental health supports will be made available for any students who need help processing the loss.
‘We do not tolerate bullying of any kind in our schools and we have a comprehensive bullying prevention program in place at all of our schools.
‘The safety and well-being of students is our highest priority and we strive every today to ensure schools are safe, welcoming and supportive places that support learning.
‘We were made aware of that video when a media outlet approached us with it. We took immediate action in response, turning the video over to police and addressing the matter with students.’
‘It should also be noted that the video did not take place during school hours.’
Social media blamed for increase in teen suicides in the US
The image above is a stock photo of a sad teen checking her phone while sitting on the floor. The person depicted has no connection to anyone mentioned in this article
Social media use may have driven the increase in suicide rates among US teens, a new analysis suggests.
Suicide rates for teens rose steadily between 2010 and 2015 despite two decades of decline, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A new analysis by San Diego University shows that, while we cannot know for certain, there is a distinct correlation between suicide rates and the surge in social media use.
They lay bare how the boom in cyberbullying, and social media posts depicting ‘perfect’ lives may be taking a toll on teens’ mental health, has mirrored a spike in depression among young people.
The report comes just months after the same team show a spike in Google searches for ‘how to commit suicide’ after the release of Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, which controversially depicted a teen girl’s depression and eventual suicide.
‘After hours of scrolling through Instagram feeds, I just feel worse about myself because I feel left out,’ said Caitlin Hearty, a 17-year-old Littleton, Colorado, high school senior who helped organize an offline campaign last month after several local teen suicides.
‘No one posts the bad things they’re going through,’ said Chloe Schilling, also 17, who helped with the campaign, in which hundreds of teens agreed not to use the internet or social media for one month.
The study’s authors looked at CDC suicide reports from 2009-15 and results of two surveys given to U.S. high school students to measure attitudes, behaviors and interests. About half a million teens ages 13 to 18 were involved.
They were asked about use of electronic devices, social media, print media, television and time spent with friends. Questions about mood included frequency of feeling hopeless and considering or attempting suicide.
The researchers didn’t examine circumstances surrounding individual suicides. Dr. Christine Moutier, chief medical officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said the study provides weak evidence for a popular theory and that many factors influence teen suicide.
The study was published Tuesday in the journal Clinical Psychological Science.
Source: Associated Press