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“Teacher Needs To Be Fired”: Bullies Sneak Into ICU Room Of 12YO Who Tried To Take Her Own Life
Interview
Update 03/12/2024 17:45 UTC: Kelaia Turner’s mother, Ty Turner, told Bored Panda that she was “gobsmacked” her daughter’s story spread globally. She said: “In those 101 days we spent in the hospital, I would tell Kelaia that this would come to pass.
“I’ve told her that people around the world would know her story. I told her that her story is for God’s glory.”
Highlights
- Parents are suing a South Carolina school for failing to protect daughter from severe bullying.
- Bullies allegedly visited hospital to take photos of Kelaia Turner during her coma.
- School's inaction reportedly escalated bullying, leading to Turner's attempted suicide.
- Turner's abuse included racial harassment, mocked by peers and a teacher.
Turner’s interests were art, music, girl Scouting, and sports, T. Turner told Bored Panda. She added: “She played piano by ear. She sang both in her school concert choir and on our church youth worship team.”
However, amid the extreme bullying, Turner turned “into a somber, often sour child…full of angst, anger, eyes full of tears ready to drop at any moment.”
T. Tyler shared: “She told teachers she scheduled time with guidance with some of the bullies.
“She wrote administrators asking for help. I emailed teachers, and administrators and went to the school for a conference.
“I demanded parents be involved, and they told me they have no jurisdiction to bring parents of these other students to the table.
“Our school district policy is 0 tolerance. There is not, however much in the way of anti-bullying programs and policies as a matter of fact, our principal explain that as being one of the reasons that punishments weren’t significant enough for the behaviors against Kelaia.
“Even now, I am inundated with parents reaching out sharing. Their experiences in the school system, their children being bullied, little to no repercussions.
“School and their reaction and their stance on bullying is an absolute joke.”
The disappointed mom revealed that her daughter’s prognosis was “to be a vegetable for the next 40 years since the hospital.”
She concluded: “We work with her daily on communication with blinking. Trying to get her to remember speech with her Passy Muir Valve.”
RELATED:
Parents are suing a school in South Carolina, USA
Image credits: reality_of_ty
Parents are suing a school in South Carolina, USA, after it allegedly failed to protect their 12-year-old daughter, Kelaia Turner, from severe bullying. The abuse allegedly led to her attempted suicide last year, which left her severely disabled. Turner was allegedly harassed for wearing her natural hair and subjected to verbal, physical, and even teacher-complicit abuse.
Trigger warning: – suicide, extreme bullying, racism – Turner’s bullies, who allegedly pushed her to try to take her own life, were found to have later visited the hospital where she was being treated to take photos of her.
Photographs of Turner lying in her hospital bed while she was in a coma subsequently started circulating on social media, The Daily Mail reported on Tuesday (December 3).
Moreover, in a 24-page federal lawsuit against their daughter’s school, Turner’s parents recently claimed that the little girl was physically and verbally assaulted by peers who branded her “roach” and “mustache face.”
Image credits: Ty Turner
Turner’s school is the Dr. Phinnize J Fisher Middle School in Greenville County, South Carolina.
Turner’s mom, Ty Turner, reportedly said she believed the bullying began when Turner, a Black girl, started wearing her natural hair to school and that it escalated over the years.
Turner further claimed that, instead of providing support and helping to reduce the incidents, teachers joined in on the torture, The Mail reported.
Turner, the youngest of three daughters, allegedly continued to be bullied so severely that she was eventually found in her bedroom at home after attempting to die by suffocation.
The school allegedly failed to protect their 12-year-old daughter, Kelaia Turner, from severe bullying
Image credits: Association for Learning Environments (A4LE)
According to the family’s GoFundMe page, which had raised $14,625 at the time of writing, Turner was dead for eight minutes “but miraculously survived.”
The fundraiser explained: “After 101 days in the hospital, including 31 in the ICU, she emerged in a fragile state, leaving my husband and me as her sole caregivers. “
“We’ve since struggled with limited mobility, no wheelchair van, and mounting financial stress after both of us lost our jobs.”
Upon emerging from her weeks-long coma, Turner suffered severe brain damage and was left with no control over her body, instead relying on a tracheostomy tube to breathe and a feeding tube, as per The Mail.
Image credits: reality_of_ty
The parents’ federal lawsuit alleged that their daughter faced relentless bullying beginning in August 2021.
The abuse allegedly included name-calling and harassment by both students and Turner’s teacher, Olivia Bennett, who reportedly participated in mocking her.
Despite repeated complaints from Turner’s parents to school officials, including incidents like a student playing a racially offensive song and Turner’s clothes being trashed, the bullying continued with little action taken.
The abuse escalated, leading to Turner’s attempted suicide on March 16, 2023, after she confided her distress to a friend.
The abuse allegedly led to her attempted suicide last year, which left her severely disabled
Image credits: Ty Turner
Image credits: reality_of_ty
The lawsuit claimed the school failed to protect Kelaia, leaving her parents seeking justice for the trauma she endured.
The Turner family said nine individual teachers and faculty members failed in their duties to “provide a culture of safety and an environment free from assault,” according to The Mail.
The parents’ lawsuit reportedly cited violations of both the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title IX protections against gender discrimination.
Turner was allegedly harassed for wearing her natural hair and was subjected to verbal, physical, and even teacher-complicit abuse
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The clause requires that all individuals be treated equally under the law, prohibiting discrimination by government entities.
Additionally, Title IX bars gender-based discrimination in any educational program or activity receiving federal funding, ensuring equal opportunities and protection for students regardless of gender.
The family is now seeking actual and punitive damages to cover medical bills, psychiatric expenses, special education, lost wages, life care expenses, disability care, injuries to her psyche and emotional state, and loss of enjoyment of life, as per the British tabloid.
The little girl was physically and verbally assaulted by peers who branded her “roach” and “mustache face”
Image credits: reality_of_ty
In a post shared on Facebook on October 5, T. Turner described her daughter as a bright little girl who learned to speak “quickly” with a “vast vocabulary and incredible level of understanding.
“Every activity we introduced her to, she excelled in: gymnastics, dance, soccer, chorus, and piano,” the saddened mom wrote.
Bored Panda has contacted T. Turner for comment.
“Keep bringing awareness and advocating for our children’s safety,” a reader commented
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What do you think ?
Meagan Glaser 2 weeks ago
There should be consequences for the hospital as well. WTF how could random unrelated people get access to a patient in a COMA?
Libby King 2 weeks ago
I don’t understand why this isn’t addressed more!!! That lawsuit would cover all of the medical bills.
Load More Replies...
WonderWoman 2 weeks ago
Overt racism is on the rise in America - thanks Republicans - you have lead America on this path.
J. Maxx 2 weeks ago
It never changes because bullies and their enablers (parents & faculty) are never held to account. I am 56 years old and endured bullying from kindergarten through 12th grade. It escalated to the point of me being set on fire twice, stabbed twice, sexual assaults, physical assaults, and verbal and emotional abuse. Nothing has changed, except now bullies have the Internet to help torment their victims. These kinds of stories will continue until there are REAL punishments and consequences for bullies and their enablers.
Kristen Sharp 2 weeks ago
Same here. So many times I wanted to do myself in. I was the fat kid in school with no friends and those who I thought were friends really weren't. They were just as bad. Even now at 48, I've lost a lot of weight, but I have no confidence to be honest. Someone will tell me that I'm pretty, and I'll yell at them because I think they're lying to me! Yeah, maybe I should have gone to therapy, but I just feel that it wouldn't have helped because I'm not worth the trouble.
Load More Replies...
Ozymandias73 2 weeks ago
It saddens my heart that these children were so sadistic and vile that they forced this young girl to believe death was her only escape. And then, to have the teacher chime in along with them should be cause for immediate dismissal and / or possibly losing her teaching license! She is an adult with not only the job of teaching her students, but to protect them while in her charge! I wish that Karma comes quickly to all those involved and in a huge way! A special spot in h3ll for all those that tormented this young child. The school should without a doubt pay a hefty amount to her parents since it was on their property that these actions repeatedly took place. Sadly though, she may never be able to live the quality of life she was able to before again. My prayers go out to her and her family.
StumblingThroughLife 2 weeks ago (edited)
Bullying is like an epidemic with no effort to find a cure. A lot of parents who have kids that are vile bullies either are the same, they don't care, or they have brought their kids up letting them do what they wanted, and now can't control them. Teachers have little control over pupils and so it gets worse ... hearing that teachers were involved, is absolutely horrifying. I hope they get charged. Even the UK often fail to deal with it. It wasn't that much better in the 60s/early -mid 70s, but I only experienced it once, at a school I was lucky to just suffer a term before we moved Counties. My daughter went through a terrible time, and even though she's now in her 30s, it marked her, emotionally. I just wish there was a way to deal with this once & for all.
StumblingThroughLife 2 weeks ago
Thinking on it, maybe they should create schools just for bullies to be sent to and see how that works, eh?
Load More Replies...
greenideas 2 weeks ago
And then the bullies apologize and say "They've grown as people" and you're the bad guy if you don't automatically forgive them.
A Very Glittery Moth Indeed 2 weeks ago
WTF? WTAF? I rarely get angry about things on the internet, but this-
Kerry Fletcher 2 weeks ago
Poor thing! Her parents should take her off life support, this is no way to live. The school should be ashamed of itself and should be covering the whole thing
Virgil Blue 2 weeks ago
Having a brother with severe brain damage I concur if her conciousness is really gone. It's no way to live for her or her family
Load More Replies... My O My 2 weeks ago
As if it wasn't enough what happened to this poor child, now, thanks to the US System, they whole family suffers immensly
StumblingThroughLife 2 weeks ago
And having to GoFundMe, too, is awful. I bet Americans pay a ton of taxes and yet have bankrupting healthcare costs. It's insane.
Load More Replies...
Virgil Blue 2 weeks ago
Maybe they had little choice. In some places changing schools is quite hard.
Load More Replies...
Mark Childers 2 weeks ago
No one wants to admit liability or negligence. Otherwise, they would be required to pay damages and be held accountable. Let's face it, who's going to do that in this litigious world? And so many people try to "calm" the victim so they don't have to actually deal with the bullies, so the bullies get away with it every time and only grow bolder. They should have been expelled after the first warning. That would have opened their parents' eyes to the thugs they are raising.
Lauren Wilder 2 weeks ago (edited)
This is so sad. Something that a child should never have to endure. I whish the parents could have moved their daughter to another school. But thats not always possible. The teachers and students involved should be prosecuted. Nothing good will come from the lives of the kids who went to the hospital to torment this angel. Bulling is awful.
MindNumbinglyBoringJob 2 weeks ago
Social media has destroyed society. All of this for views and likes. The bullies should be jailed and the hospital charged.
Beth Wheeler 2 weeks ago
OMG this is horrible. The kids that did this to her and snuck into the hospital to take pictures of her in a coma need their asses best for it, then take them to the police and turn them in. The teacher should have been immediately fired along with the other people at the school. Whatever amount they are suing for I hope they get ten fold. These poor parents have a long expensive road with this little girls medical care.
Bec 2 weeks ago (edited)
The real blowback needs to be against the parents of these bullies. The school was complicit, the hospital was complicit, but the parents are overwhelmingly responsible for the behaviour of their children. Until we start targeting and penalising parents, nothing will change.
WorkAholic1 2 weeks ago
That poor little girl. Her bullies need to be held accountable. If they have phones, iPads, makeup, jewelry, games, whatever the bullies personally own that they think the world of, those items need to be taken away from them until they can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they can become decent human beings. And they should be made to watch videos of other bullies to show them what they are. They should also, with their parents, visit their victim and let her know they are sorry for what they did (and mean it).
HardBoiledBlonde 2 weeks ago
The Feds. need to be pulled in and perhaps the ACLU. Her parents need to file lawsuits against all the kids' involved parents, too. Where's all the black talking heads, preachers and attorneys???? The time is Now!
Big Chungus 1 week ago
This absolutely kills me and makes me tear up. Humans disgust me and make me so scared for my son's future. I will make sure he never becomes a bully and treats people with kindness.
Gracie Mae 1 week ago
such a beautiful child...and, yeah, how were these kids able to just waltz into a coma patient's room, especially since I'm guessing they were MINORS?!
Certainly not Dan 1 week ago
As others have said there never seems to be consequences for the bullies. Why aren’t they named the little psychopaths? I remember the boys who bullied me, I’ll never forget, and never forgive.
JuniorCJ82 2 weeks ago
She's black in South Carolina. Is it any wonder the school dgaf about her?
Binky Melnik 2 weeks ago (edited)
It seems to me we could reduce bullying a great deal if the bullies who hurt this girl were deprived of oxygen for eight minutes until they’re vegetables, too, starting with the teacher(s) who also did it. Is anyone familiar with that school? Its name sounds as if it were built by and for POC, but that can’t be right, can it? The racism part makes me think it’s sh!tty white kids and teachers doing the bullying.
Meagan Glaser 2 weeks ago
There should be consequences for the hospital as well. WTF how could random unrelated people get access to a patient in a COMA?
Libby King 2 weeks ago
I don’t understand why this isn’t addressed more!!! That lawsuit would cover all of the medical bills.
Load More Replies... WonderWoman 2 weeks ago
Overt racism is on the rise in America - thanks Republicans - you have lead America on this path.
J. Maxx 2 weeks ago
It never changes because bullies and their enablers (parents & faculty) are never held to account. I am 56 years old and endured bullying from kindergarten through 12th grade. It escalated to the point of me being set on fire twice, stabbed twice, sexual assaults, physical assaults, and verbal and emotional abuse. Nothing has changed, except now bullies have the Internet to help torment their victims. These kinds of stories will continue until there are REAL punishments and consequences for bullies and their enablers.
Kristen Sharp 2 weeks ago
Same here. So many times I wanted to do myself in. I was the fat kid in school with no friends and those who I thought were friends really weren't. They were just as bad. Even now at 48, I've lost a lot of weight, but I have no confidence to be honest. Someone will tell me that I'm pretty, and I'll yell at them because I think they're lying to me! Yeah, maybe I should have gone to therapy, but I just feel that it wouldn't have helped because I'm not worth the trouble.
Load More Replies... Ozymandias73 2 weeks ago
It saddens my heart that these children were so sadistic and vile that they forced this young girl to believe death was her only escape. And then, to have the teacher chime in along with them should be cause for immediate dismissal and / or possibly losing her teaching license! She is an adult with not only the job of teaching her students, but to protect them while in her charge! I wish that Karma comes quickly to all those involved and in a huge way! A special spot in h3ll for all those that tormented this young child. The school should without a doubt pay a hefty amount to her parents since it was on their property that these actions repeatedly took place. Sadly though, she may never be able to live the quality of life she was able to before again. My prayers go out to her and her family.
StumblingThroughLife 2 weeks ago (edited)
Bullying is like an epidemic with no effort to find a cure. A lot of parents who have kids that are vile bullies either are the same, they don't care, or they have brought their kids up letting them do what they wanted, and now can't control them. Teachers have little control over pupils and so it gets worse ... hearing that teachers were involved, is absolutely horrifying. I hope they get charged. Even the UK often fail to deal with it. It wasn't that much better in the 60s/early -mid 70s, but I only experienced it once, at a school I was lucky to just suffer a term before we moved Counties. My daughter went through a terrible time, and even though she's now in her 30s, it marked her, emotionally. I just wish there was a way to deal with this once & for all.
StumblingThroughLife 2 weeks ago
Thinking on it, maybe they should create schools just for bullies to be sent to and see how that works, eh?
Load More Replies... greenideas 2 weeks ago
And then the bullies apologize and say "They've grown as people" and you're the bad guy if you don't automatically forgive them.
A Very Glittery Moth Indeed 2 weeks ago
WTF? WTAF? I rarely get angry about things on the internet, but this-
Kerry Fletcher 2 weeks ago
Poor thing! Her parents should take her off life support, this is no way to live. The school should be ashamed of itself and should be covering the whole thing
Virgil Blue 2 weeks ago
Having a brother with severe brain damage I concur if her conciousness is really gone. It's no way to live for her or her family
Load More Replies... My O My 2 weeks ago
As if it wasn't enough what happened to this poor child, now, thanks to the US System, they whole family suffers immensly
StumblingThroughLife 2 weeks ago
And having to GoFundMe, too, is awful. I bet Americans pay a ton of taxes and yet have bankrupting healthcare costs. It's insane.
Load More Replies... Virgil Blue 2 weeks ago
Maybe they had little choice. In some places changing schools is quite hard.
Load More Replies... Mark Childers 2 weeks ago
No one wants to admit liability or negligence. Otherwise, they would be required to pay damages and be held accountable. Let's face it, who's going to do that in this litigious world? And so many people try to "calm" the victim so they don't have to actually deal with the bullies, so the bullies get away with it every time and only grow bolder. They should have been expelled after the first warning. That would have opened their parents' eyes to the thugs they are raising.
Lauren Wilder 2 weeks ago (edited)
This is so sad. Something that a child should never have to endure. I whish the parents could have moved their daughter to another school. But thats not always possible. The teachers and students involved should be prosecuted. Nothing good will come from the lives of the kids who went to the hospital to torment this angel. Bulling is awful.
MindNumbinglyBoringJob 2 weeks ago
Social media has destroyed society. All of this for views and likes. The bullies should be jailed and the hospital charged.
Beth Wheeler 2 weeks ago
OMG this is horrible. The kids that did this to her and snuck into the hospital to take pictures of her in a coma need their asses best for it, then take them to the police and turn them in. The teacher should have been immediately fired along with the other people at the school. Whatever amount they are suing for I hope they get ten fold. These poor parents have a long expensive road with this little girls medical care.
Bec 2 weeks ago (edited)
The real blowback needs to be against the parents of these bullies. The school was complicit, the hospital was complicit, but the parents are overwhelmingly responsible for the behaviour of their children. Until we start targeting and penalising parents, nothing will change.
WorkAholic1 2 weeks ago
That poor little girl. Her bullies need to be held accountable. If they have phones, iPads, makeup, jewelry, games, whatever the bullies personally own that they think the world of, those items need to be taken away from them until they can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they can become decent human beings. And they should be made to watch videos of other bullies to show them what they are. They should also, with their parents, visit their victim and let her know they are sorry for what they did (and mean it).
HardBoiledBlonde 2 weeks ago
The Feds. need to be pulled in and perhaps the ACLU. Her parents need to file lawsuits against all the kids' involved parents, too. Where's all the black talking heads, preachers and attorneys???? The time is Now!
Big Chungus 1 week ago
This absolutely kills me and makes me tear up. Humans disgust me and make me so scared for my son's future. I will make sure he never becomes a bully and treats people with kindness.
Gracie Mae 1 week ago
such a beautiful child...and, yeah, how were these kids able to just waltz into a coma patient's room, especially since I'm guessing they were MINORS?!
Certainly not Dan 1 week ago
As others have said there never seems to be consequences for the bullies. Why aren’t they named the little psychopaths? I remember the boys who bullied me, I’ll never forget, and never forgive.
JuniorCJ82 2 weeks ago
She's black in South Carolina. Is it any wonder the school dgaf about her?
Binky Melnik 2 weeks ago (edited)
It seems to me we could reduce bullying a great deal if the bullies who hurt this girl were deprived of oxygen for eight minutes until they’re vegetables, too, starting with the teacher(s) who also did it. Is anyone familiar with that school? Its name sounds as if it were built by and for POC, but that can’t be right, can it? The racism part makes me think it’s sh!tty white kids and teachers doing the bullying.
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