10-Year-Old Boy Dies By Suicide After ‘Horrific Bullying’ At School, Parents Say They Raised Alarm 20 Times

A 10-year-old boy in the US state of Indiana killed himself after being subjected to “horrific bullying” at school, according to his family, who said they raised the alarm at least 20 times in the last year.

Sammy Teusch, a fourth-grader at middle school in the Midwestern state, was bullied right up until the night he died by suicide on May 5, according to his parents Sam and Nichole. “I held him in my arms,” his dad, Sam Teusch, was quoted as saying by The New York Post. “I did the thing no father should ever have to do, and any time I close my eyes, it’s all I can see.”

Sammy’s parents said they complained to the school nearly 20 times about the bullying that started last year when he was in elementary school. “They were making fun of him for his glasses in the beginning, then on to make fun of his teeth. It went on for a long time,” his dad said. “He was beat up on the school bus, and the kids broke his glasses and everything,” he said. “I called the school, and I’m like, ‘What are you doing about this? It keeps getting worse, and worse, and worse,’” the dad claimed.

Despite claims of relentless bullying, the school district’s superintendent denied any such reports had ever been submitted. However, the district authorities did acknowledge that the school’s administrators and counselor had regular talks with the family throughout the year. Sammy’s family asserted that their fears had been made clear. “They knew this was going on. They knew this was going on,” the dad said.

Sammy’s grandma was livid at the district claiming it has a zero-tolerance policy on bullying. “That they can’t just say they have zero tolerance because that doesn’t mean there is zero tolerance about bullies, their zero tolerance means that they don’t have responsibility for it,” Cynthia Teusch told a local state outlet.

“People trust their kids to the school, but now that trust is breaking down.” The boy’s mom claimed her son took her life because of the constant bullying. According to the mom, the boy mentioned an unspecified incident in a bathroom last week which left him too afraid to go to school. “He was my little boy. He was my baby. He was the youngest one,” she was quoted as saying by The Post.