According to several media outlets, four high school students in New Jersey have been charged with the death of a 14-year-old classmate who committed suicide days after they allegedly attacked her in the school corridor, recorded the incident, and posted the footage online.
According to the Associated Press, who cited the prosecution, after their classmate Adriana Kuch committed suicide two days after they allegedly bullied and beat her at Central Regional High School in Bayville, New Jersey, one juvenile has been charged with aggravated assault, two have been charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, and another has been accused of harassment.
According to CNN, Adriana’s father, Michael Kuch, the deceased, was discovered dead at her home on February 3.
Since then, the teen suspects and their guardians have been “served with copies of their complaints” and released from police custody “pending future court appearances,” Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said, according to NBC News.
Kuch told the source that before his daughter died, a video appeared on social media sites like TikTok, purportedly showing her strolling with her boyfriend in the school hallway when she was viciously hit with a water bottle, according to the report.
WNBC-TV announced Adriana only received care from the school nurse despite passing out and having severe bruises all over her body. Kuch asserts that school administrators neglected to alert the authorities.
“A kid is assaulted with a weapon, and their policy is not to call the police or file a report,” Kuch told the station. “I do know why it happened,” he claimed. He believes “the two girls didn’t like each other for a couple of years, and she had been threatening my daughter online.”
Dr. Triantafillos Parlapanides, the Central Regional School District’s superintendent, announced his resignation on Saturday. PEOPLE’S request for a statement from Parlapanides was not immediately met with a response.
“The Central Regional family continues to mourn the loss of one of our children,” the district wrote, adding in part it is currently “evaluating all current and past allegations of bullying.”
Adriana was “a great and fearless girl who touched the lives of everyone around her,” according to a GoFundMe page set up to pay for funeral and legal expenses.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please get in touch with the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, texting “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741, or going to 988lifeline.org.
