Bored Panda works better on our iPhone app
Continue in app Continue in browser

Add post form topAdd Post
Tooltip close

The Bored Panda iOS app is live! Fight boredom with iPhones and iPads here.

“Teacher Needs To Be Fired”: Bullies Sneak Into ICU Room Of 12YO Who Tried To Take Her Own Life
60

“Teacher Needs To Be Fired”: Bullies Sneak Into ICU Room Of 12YO Who Tried To Take Her Own Life

Interview
ADVERTISEMENT

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

“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).

    ADVERTISEMENT

    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

    ADVERTISEMENT

    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. 

    ADVERTISEMENT

    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

    ADVERTISEMENT

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by RealiTy (@reality_of_ty)

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by RealiTy (@reality_of_ty)

    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

    ADVERTISEMENT

    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. 

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Bored Panda has contacted T. Turner for comment.

    “Keep bringing awareness and advocating for our children’s safety,” a reader commented

    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT
    Ic_polls

    Poll Question

    Thanks! Check out the results:

    Share on Facebook
    Andréa Oldereide

    Andréa Oldereide

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

    Read more »

    I’m a journalist who works as Bored Panda’s News Team's Senior Writer. The news team produces stories focused on pop culture. Whenever I get the opportunity and the time, I investigate and produce my own exclusive stories, where I get to explore a wider range of topics. Some examples include: “Doberman Tobias the viral medical service dog” and “The lawyer who brought rare uterine cancer that affects 9/11 victims to light”. You've got a tip? email me: andrea.o@boredpanda.com

    Read less »
    Andréa Oldereide

    Andréa Oldereide

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

    I’m a journalist who works as Bored Panda’s News Team's Senior Writer. The news team produces stories focused on pop culture. Whenever I get the opportunity and the time, I investigate and produce my own exclusive stories, where I get to explore a wider range of topics. Some examples include: “Doberman Tobias the viral medical service dog” and “The lawyer who brought rare uterine cancer that affects 9/11 victims to light”. You've got a tip? email me: andrea.o@boredpanda.com

    Karina Babenok

    Karina Babenok

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    Read more »

    As a visual editor in the News team, I look for the most interesting pictures and comments to make each post interesting and informative through images, so that you aren't reading only blocks of text. I joined Bored Panda not that long ago, but in this short amount of time I have covered a wide range of topics: from true crime to Taylor Swift memes (my search history is very questionable because of that).In my freetime, I enjoy spending time at the gym, gaming, binging Great British Bake Off and adding yet another tattoo artist that I would love to get a tattoo from to my pinterest board.

    Read less »

    Karina Babenok

    Karina Babenok

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    As a visual editor in the News team, I look for the most interesting pictures and comments to make each post interesting and informative through images, so that you aren't reading only blocks of text. I joined Bored Panda not that long ago, but in this short amount of time I have covered a wide range of topics: from true crime to Taylor Swift memes (my search history is very questionable because of that).In my freetime, I enjoy spending time at the gym, gaming, binging Great British Bake Off and adding yet another tattoo artist that I would love to get a tattoo from to my pinterest board.

    What do you think ?
    Add photo comments
    POST
    Meagan Glaser
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I don’t understand why this isn’t addressed more!!! That lawsuit would cover all of the medical bills.

    Load More Replies...
    WonderWoman
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Overt racism is on the rise in America - thanks Republicans - you have lead America on this path.

    L Mullen
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago

    This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

    You do realize that racism has been around in this country since before it became a country, don't you? I don't believe that any one political party is responsible for it. When it comes to bullying racism may be used as an excuse, but the truth is that bullying is going to happen regardless of how they look. Some people just enjoy hurting others.

    Load More Replies...
    J. Maxx
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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...
    Load More Comments
    Meagan Glaser
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I don’t understand why this isn’t addressed more!!! That lawsuit would cover all of the medical bills.

    Load More Replies...
    WonderWoman
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Overt racism is on the rise in America - thanks Republicans - you have lead America on this path.

    L Mullen
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago

    This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

    You do realize that racism has been around in this country since before it became a country, don't you? I don't believe that any one political party is responsible for it. When it comes to bullying racism may be used as an excuse, but the truth is that bullying is going to happen regardless of how they look. Some people just enjoy hurting others.

    Load More Replies...
    J. Maxx
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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...
    Load More Comments
    You May Like
    Related on Bored Panda
    Related on Bored Panda
    Trending on Bored Panda
    Also on Bored Panda