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News & Current Events (Articles Required)
Jury pins suicide on a sloppy mom
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<blockquote data-quote="Durango" data-source="post: 1115737" data-attributes="member: 9377"><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">MERIDEN, Conn., Oct. 6 It was easy to push J. Daniel Scruggs around, to throw him off gym bleachers and send him hurtling down school staircases. A slip of a boy, he was short, and at age 12, just 63 pounds. At Washington Middle School here, where he attended seventh grade until he killed himself in January 2002, he may as well have been invisible. And in many ways, he was.</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">"Like he was nothing," said Melissa Smith, a 14-year-old student at the school, when asked how teachers and classmates regarded Daniel. She testified for the defense in the trial of Daniel's mother, Judith Scruggs, who was convicted Monday in connection with his suicide. Ms. Scruggs was charged in April 2002, two months after her intent to sue the city had been filed.</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Indeed, most school officials did little to halt the grim parade of attacks and indignities foisted upon Daniel. A report after Daniel's death by the state's Office of the Child Advocate, which oversees state agencies serving children, said he "seemed to be held responsible for his circumstances."</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The advocate's report describes a boy who had failed to navigate the byzantine corridors that are middle school. His classmates and teachers said that his clothes were not right, that he smelled bad and that he had virtually no friends.</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The Meriden police, who investigated his death, described a house knee-deep in clutter, garbage and unwashed dishes. They charged his mother with misdemeanor cruelty and two felony counts of putting her child at risk. She was found guilty of one of the felonies, creating an unhealthy and unsafe home environment. </span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">She was acquitted of the cruelty charge and the second felony charge that she put her son at risk by failing to get him proper help when he showed signs of trouble. Although the child advocate's office found repeated instances of Daniel's being assaulted at school, the school is not the subject of a criminal investigation. State prosecutors said there were no plans to file criminal charges against it or any of its students.</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">A Meriden police detective, Gary Brandl, said the police had investigated claims that Daniel had been bullied at school, but he said investigators had been assured by school officials that any "known instances of Daniel's being bullied were addressed." <strong>Daniel complained of being picked on at school to his mother, to a social worker for the state child welfare agency and to a probation officer assigned to investigate his truancy problem, but few believed him.</strong></span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><strong>According to the report and testimony in court, a teacher made him clean off his chair when another classmate spat on him,</strong> and there were few repercussions when he was picked up by a student and spun like a top in gym class. No school officials would comment on the case.</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Almost two years later, students said that there was less bullying at Washington Middle School, but that it was far from over. "Kids get pushed around and shoved into lockers," said Tyler Hoffler, an eighth grader at the school who said he had once known Daniel. "Teachers don't see a lot of things."</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">One Meriden mother said that in 2002, her son had been punched so hard by a classmate there that he was sent to an emergency room. The woman asked that her name be withheld; her son had been beaten after a local newspaper published it.</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Daniel's suicide prompted the passage of anti-bullying legislation six months after his death. The law requires every Connecticut school district to establish a policy to combat bullying that includes filing reports, which can be anonymous or signed, and publishing lists of each incident.</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Investigators said Daniel's mother, a single parent who worked at Wal-Mart and the school, should have done more, particularly when he had been late or absent 74 out of 78 school days. He had been moved to a trailer behind the school designated for children who had trouble fitting in with other students.</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">"Occasionally a teacher would tell students to stop, but they wouldn't listen," said Ms. Smith, who recalled instances of Daniel's being bullied that ranged from being pushed off gymnasium bleachers and having "kick me" signs stuck to his back.</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Thomas Fitzgibbon, his gym teacher, testified that Daniel had been spun about by a classmate. He reported it to administrators, but recalled that no disciplinary action was taken.</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Mr. Fitzgibbon described his onetime student as childlike. "He was a young sixth and seventh grader, and most of his classmates were into more mature pursuits, like dating and gossip," he said.</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><strong>Almost one month before his death, Daniel told a social worker he did not think he could go back to his old school. He could not deal with the other children, he said, and the harassment had escalated. What was more, he told her, his Game Boy had been stolen at school and no one had done anything about it.</strong></span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/07/nyregion/07BULL.html" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/07/nyregion/07BULL.html</a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><strong>By the time he killed himself, he had missed 44 days of class. He was so frightened of being bullied that he had taken to defecating and urinating in his pants, presumably to get out of school, witnesses said.</strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/07/nyregion/07MOM.html?pagewanted=2" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/07/nyregion/07MOM.html?pagewanted=2</a></span></span></p><p> </p><p><em>After reading what this poor boy went through at school, the bullying and no one listening or doing anything about it, is it any wonder he kept those knives in his closet? Were they to protect himself from his mother? I don't think so, this child feared for his life because of the bullying.</em></p><p> </p><p><em>He told the social worker a week before his suicide that he felt he couldn't return to that school because he was so afraid. Couldn't this social worker pick up on the boy's desperation? What about the school officials and teachers? Couldn't they see his desperation? Why weren't all these peopl hauled into court? Blame it all on the mother? Sure, she played a role in it, no doubt, but it seems to me the school officials and social services were the ones ultimately responsible for relieving this child of his desperation.</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Durango, post: 1115737, member: 9377"] [size=3][font=Times New Roman]MERIDEN, Conn., Oct. 6 It was easy to push J. Daniel Scruggs around, to throw him off gym bleachers and send him hurtling down school staircases. A slip of a boy, he was short, and at age 12, just 63 pounds. At Washington Middle School here, where he attended seventh grade until he killed himself in January 2002, he may as well have been invisible. And in many ways, he was.[/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman]"Like he was nothing," said Melissa Smith, a 14-year-old student at the school, when asked how teachers and classmates regarded Daniel. She testified for the defense in the trial of Daniel's mother, Judith Scruggs, who was convicted Monday in connection with his suicide. Ms. Scruggs was charged in April 2002, two months after her intent to sue the city had been filed.[/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman]Indeed, most school officials did little to halt the grim parade of attacks and indignities foisted upon Daniel. A report after Daniel's death by the state's Office of the Child Advocate, which oversees state agencies serving children, said he "seemed to be held responsible for his circumstances."[/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman]The advocate's report describes a boy who had failed to navigate the byzantine corridors that are middle school. His classmates and teachers said that his clothes were not right, that he smelled bad and that he had virtually no friends.[/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman]The Meriden police, who investigated his death, described a house knee-deep in clutter, garbage and unwashed dishes. They charged his mother with misdemeanor cruelty and two felony counts of putting her child at risk. She was found guilty of one of the felonies, creating an unhealthy and unsafe home environment. [/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman]She was acquitted of the cruelty charge and the second felony charge that she put her son at risk by failing to get him proper help when he showed signs of trouble. Although the child advocate's office found repeated instances of Daniel's being assaulted at school, the school is not the subject of a criminal investigation. State prosecutors said there were no plans to file criminal charges against it or any of its students.[/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman]A Meriden police detective, Gary Brandl, said the police had investigated claims that Daniel had been bullied at school, but he said investigators had been assured by school officials that any "known instances of Daniel's being bullied were addressed." [b]Daniel complained of being picked on at school to his mother, to a social worker for the state child welfare agency and to a probation officer assigned to investigate his truancy problem, but few believed him.[/b][/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman][b]According to the report and testimony in court, a teacher made him clean off his chair when another classmate spat on him,[/b] and there were few repercussions when he was picked up by a student and spun like a top in gym class. No school officials would comment on the case.[/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman]Almost two years later, students said that there was less bullying at Washington Middle School, but that it was far from over. "Kids get pushed around and shoved into lockers," said Tyler Hoffler, an eighth grader at the school who said he had once known Daniel. "Teachers don't see a lot of things."[/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman]One Meriden mother said that in 2002, her son had been punched so hard by a classmate there that he was sent to an emergency room. The woman asked that her name be withheld; her son had been beaten after a local newspaper published it.[/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman]Daniel's suicide prompted the passage of anti-bullying legislation six months after his death. The law requires every Connecticut school district to establish a policy to combat bullying that includes filing reports, which can be anonymous or signed, and publishing lists of each incident.[/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman]Investigators said Daniel's mother, a single parent who worked at Wal-Mart and the school, should have done more, particularly when he had been late or absent 74 out of 78 school days. He had been moved to a trailer behind the school designated for children who had trouble fitting in with other students.[/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman]"Occasionally a teacher would tell students to stop, but they wouldn't listen," said Ms. Smith, who recalled instances of Daniel's being bullied that ranged from being pushed off gymnasium bleachers and having "kick me" signs stuck to his back.[/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman]Thomas Fitzgibbon, his gym teacher, testified that Daniel had been spun about by a classmate. He reported it to administrators, but recalled that no disciplinary action was taken.[/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman]Mr. Fitzgibbon described his onetime student as childlike. "He was a young sixth and seventh grader, and most of his classmates were into more mature pursuits, like dating and gossip," he said.[/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman][b]Almost one month before his death, Daniel told a social worker he did not think he could go back to his old school. He could not deal with the other children, he said, and the harassment had escalated. What was more, he told her, his Game Boy had been stolen at school and no one had done anything about it.[/b][/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman][url="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/07/nyregion/07BULL.html"]http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/07/nyregion/07BULL.html[/url][/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman][b]By the time he killed himself, he had missed 44 days of class. He was so frightened of being bullied that he had taken to defecating and urinating in his pants, presumably to get out of school, witnesses said.[/b][/font][/size] [size=3][font=Times New Roman][url="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/07/nyregion/07MOM.html?pagewanted=2"]http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/07/nyregion/07MOM.html?pagewanted=2[/url][/font][/size] [i]After reading what this poor boy went through at school, the bullying and no one listening or doing anything about it, is it any wonder he kept those knives in his closet? Were they to protect himself from his mother? I don't think so, this child feared for his life because of the bullying.[/i] [i]He told the social worker a week before his suicide that he felt he couldn't return to that school because he was so afraid. Couldn't this social worker pick up on the boy's desperation? What about the school officials and teachers? Couldn't they see his desperation? Why weren't all these peopl hauled into court? Blame it all on the mother? Sure, she played a role in it, no doubt, but it seems to me the school officials and social services were the ones ultimately responsible for relieving this child of his desperation.[/i] [/QUOTE]
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