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October 16th, 2013
01:05 AM ET
Two young girls arrested in case of bullying that led to suicide
A Florida sheriff took the unusual step of arresting two girls in connection with a bullying case that resulted in another 12 year old girl committing suicide. Rebecca Sedwick jumped off the tower of an abandoned cement plant last month after she was repeatedly bullied. One girl who was arrested is 14 years old, the other is just 12, and they are charged with aggravated stalking. Anderson spoke with Rebecca's mother before today's developments.
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Filed under: Bullying |
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Sorry for the mothers lost. Those kids that continued bullying after the death their parents should be put in public for teaching their kids to have no respect. Those parents should be ashamed of themselves. These young kids shouldnt have any cell phones or apps.
It is a sad situation, sorry for the poor child that took her own life. Sorry for the mother and family. Bully is something that we always should be aware. When I was growing up I was bully too, but I fought back and with more intensity that they did, they never bother me again. Also when I saw somebody being bully, and I saw that she was weak, I used to defend them. When my kids were going to elementary school. I used to go in lunch and recess time, and make sure nobody was being bully.
I blame the parents. All the parents involved are to blame. Parents should know better what their child is doing. Children need guidance. They need to be there for their child. If they need support, be there. If they are wrong doers, then be there to stop the abuse.
If you watched the Anderson Cooper video you obviously saw that Rebecca's mother did all she could to support her daughter including home schooling her and shutting down various social media accounts. You may not be a mother yet, but as one myself I can tell you it is almost impossible to keep up with the infinite amount of social media outlets. I think the girls who need the attention are the ones who were bullying Rebecca! There are typically other signs that these kids are bullies!
i am so glad the police arrested these kids. to bully someone is one thing, but to say " youre happy they are dead?!"
God help us!
This is such a horrendous and terrible story, my heart goes out to the family and friends of the victim. As a plus sized individual, I too know the horrible feeling of being bullied, but it only occurred at school, resulting in a terrible evening and not wanting to return to school, but now kids are subjected to bullying by means of social networks. I am glad to hear that law enforcement has held no punches in arresting these girls, and I hope the appropriate punishment is sentenced to make a statement that bullying is a serious case. I also feel sorry for the people who hasmocked the victim, may God have mercy on them.
I applaud Grady Judd. This is a reprehensible attack on a child who may have had low self esteem but was driven to take her own life due to the cruelty of these girls. I understand parents always defend their children but in this case they should hang their heads in shame and hope that their daughters get the help they obviously need to overcome this tragedy. Young teenage girls take everything to heart and unfortunately in this case it went to the extreme. Rebecca may you Rest in Peace finally because you had no peace on this earth.
i am so sorry i know what it is like to be bullied it said in the video that she was always singing welll i tried out for a play that has two sollos i will dedicate those too her no mother should have to go through that God bless you . if i was rebbeccas friend i would have kncked the person down to size
bulling is an assault against another person whether it occurs in the school bus or any where on school grounds.. Parents of the bullies should be held accountable in a a court of law. Parents as a group should promptly complain to the local school board and county representatives.
This is a horrible, horrible story. What these girls (and others like them) do goes way beyond the term "bullying." I believe if we start calling it what it is – cyber-stalking, or even cyber-terrorism, along with harassment and assault, along with arrests, maybe a few of these young perpetrators and their parents will get the message.
Really Jane? Terrorism...give me a break. You are comparing what these girls did to 911....wow
I think it's safe to say that this young girl was terrorized. John, you're making too big a leap connecting this to 911. The magnitude is certainly different, but in both events life was taken away. And in this girl's case, she was definitely terrorized beyond what anyone should experience. Let's keep the focus on that.
ter·ror·ize transitive verb \ˈter-ər-ˌīz\
: to cause (someone) to be extremely afraid
: to force (someone) to do something by using threats or violence
ter·ror·izedter·ror·iz·ing
Full Definition of TERRORIZE
1
: to fill with terror or anxiety : scare
2
: to coerce by threat or violence
Miriam Webster.Dictionary. It doesn't have to be 911 to be terror.
i think the mom is doing the right thing and speaking out about what happened. and Ed said it perfect about john's comment!
Mr. Cooper, the same thing happened to my daughter. She got bullied through her ask.fm. We let her keep her ask.fm account and don't let her response to any postings and hoping that we could catch who is this anonymous person who bullied her sometime in the future. Maybe you could help us.
They need to charge them with verbal assault, resulting in death, also.... THE JUDGE NEEDS TO THROW THE BOOK AT THEM... AND THEN WAIT TILL THEY HAVE TO DO TIME, AND THEY ARE THE ONES GETTING BULLIED ! ! !
Revenge in never appropriate. You can believe in punishing people, but doing it for revenge serves no purpose.
So sorry for your loss. May God comfort parents hearts!!
I'm sorry 4 the loss of rebecca, my prayer's & thought's r with her family & friend's..
This still continues and it starts very young, as young as five. We need to have some serious laws on this. IT NEEDS TO STOP!!!
So in Florida you cant bully someone into committing suicide but you can shoot a kid you think its up to know good?....Hmmm very sad situation down there in Florida Sad for the girl who felt she needed to takes her life and the people she left behind. Just awful that 2 young girls could do such harm to another human being. RIP sweet angel
I'm pleased that this time law enforcement did not flinch at arresting both girls.
Man! That's really going to the extreme: Saying "she deserves to die" "they were glad she was dead" is even more salt to the wound, and people like this have no idea what they're saying or even thinking for all that matters. I also have wondered about the words of St. Paul, when in 1 Corinthians 10: 13 "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
With me, Paul, has a lot of explaining to do, to the "Christian" community! The complexities we endure these days are in no way comparable with the days of the Apostle's, and even if it refers only to the "Born Again Christian" it is still incomprehensible to the naked eye of today!
I've always agreed with that statement "MEAN PEOPLE SUCK!", and it appears to be more true today than ever.
I am regretful to the family of this beautiful child, and even to, Anderson Cooper, for the loss of their family members, but it doesn't diminish the pain from it all:
God Bless us all, as little, Timothy, would say!
This is such a sad thing to happen to such a young girl
this is just heartbreaking from the poor woman who lost her beautiful daughter to the mother's who have to deal with what their daughters did...................it just makes me cry
With all of the benefits that technology has afforded us, we also pay a steep price for the loss of civility and compassion that this disconnected means of communication seems to encourage. My daughter was bullied in grade school and I can only imagine how much that would have been amplified had the sites mentioned in the interview been as prolific as they are now.
Heartfelt prayers for the family, I'm truly sorry for your loss.
My heart breaks for Tricia Norman. My daughter is (was) a victim of bullying also, for 2 years. One girl left a horrible message on FB and we pressed charges against her. I wish that I could've pressed charges on her parents also, because like the sheriff said 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree'. I applaud the sheriff for arresting those 2 girls! My daughter was already getting treatment for anxiety and then we found out that she was doing self harm. Thankfully we were able to get help for her. She has been 'cut free' for five months now. As a parent we do everything that we can to stop the hurt when something like this happens. Unfortunately sometimes it isn't enough. Bullying has to stop! One death because of bullying is one death too many. My daughter and I watched this story together, needless to say we both cried for Rebecca and her family.