A teen girl in Michigan was so distraught by ongoing sexual harassment and stalking from an ex-boyfriend that she tried to take her own life, a lawsuit alleges.
The Detroit Free Press obtained court documents accusing a Michigan school district of ignoring complaints about the alleged stalking and harassment of a now-17-year-old student who was reportedly driven to attempt suicide after a year and a half of unrelenting abuse from an ex-boyfriend.
The lawsuit claims that the girl was subject to ongoing harassment and threats, often while attending classes in the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools district, at the hands of an ex-boyfriend who also appears to have been a student at the school she attended.
According to the complaint, the boy allegedly followed the girl around, told her he hoped she would be raped, called her a “slut,” and wrote “whore” in feces on the garage door of her home, which he also toilet-papered and egged.
Days after the vandalization of her home, the girl reportedly took an overdose of Ativan in an apparent suicide attempt. The overdose led to an extended hospitalization during which the girl was reportedly hallucinating during the first days of her recovery.
“Why won’t (he) leave me alone?” the teen girl said in the hospital, according to the documents. “I can’t take it anymore. Everyone hates me. I am a whore. They need to know my 13 reasons why.”
The lawsuit claims the abuse continued even after the girl’s suicide attempt — and that the girl’s mother had complained to school ten times about the boy’s behavior before her daughter’s overdose. According to the lawsuit, one school official suggested the girl was lying about the abuse, and another reportedly said, “kids will be kids.”
The suit further claims that three students in the school district had taken their lives in the previous year.
“The fact that this district would let this kind of egregious harassment and bullying go on for as long as it has is astonishing to me in this day and age,” the family’s attorney Jennifer Salvatore told the news outlet.
“They made 10 complaints. They had to get a PPO (personal protection order). I think sometimes litigation is the only way to call institutions’ attention to the fact that they have a legal responsibility here and that kids’ lives are at stake.”
The Plymouth-Canton Community School District refused a request to comment on the lawsuit, instead giving the news outlet a statement.
“The district does not tolerate harassment of any kind. All allegations of harassment are taken seriously, are investigated thoroughly, and responded to with appropriate action,” the statement read in part.
According to the report, the alleged victim can no longer attend school as a result of the trauma and anxiety.
It is not known at this time what damages the family is seeking.
CrimeOnline will provide further updates when more information is available.