10 Year Old Indiana Boy Victim of Bullying Commits Suicide

Warning ... this will make you cry.

10 year old Sammy Teusch, from Greenfield Indiana, took his own life after allegedly suffering unending bullying at his school. The fourth grader was allegedly both physically and emotionally bullied while in elementary school, and that followed him to intermediate school. Sometimes changing schools helps but this time it did not. The children reportedly made fun of his glasses, and his buck and widely spaced teeth, and beat him up on the school bus. The parents say they complained to the school 20 times however the school says no bullying report was received.

Either the parents are lying or the school is. One of them is wrong. Either the parents are trying to cover for their own failures parenting the boy, or the school is trying to cover it's own butt for not protecting the boy. I"m sure there will be an investigation. 10 year olds don't just up and commit suicide for no reason. Someone in a position of authority over this child, be it parents or the school, knew something was wrong and help was not given to the little boy.

And if it turns out the boy was bullied to death ... who gets the blame? The parents tried to stop it but could they have done more? Did the school fail to protect the little boy? What about the children who bullied him to death? What to do about them??

Details are sketchy, I'm sure more will come out in the following days, but this really is a sad story and I thought there might be those who would wish to discuss it.

10 Year Old Indiana Boy Victim of Bullying Commits Suicide

A ten-year-old boy took his own life after suffering horrific bullying at school, with his family saying he had warned officials 20 times about the ongoing abuse.

Sammy Teusch, from Greenfield, Indiana, died by suicide on May 5 and according to his family, was being bullied up until the night he passed away.

His parents Sam and Nichole say he was both physically and emotionally bullied at school, with Sammy being recently beaten up on a school bus.

The bullying started last year when he was in elementary school, and followed him to Greenfield Intermediate School.

According to the family, Sammy told teachers and other staff about the bullying 20 times.

'I called the school, and I'm like, 'What are you doing about this? It keeps getting worse, and worse, and worse. And it's not getting any better. In fact, it's getting worse.'

Dr. Harold Olin was approached by the outlet for an interview and said he was unavailable, but claimed no bullying report had ever been submitted by the family.

Olin added that administrators at the school had conversations with the family throughout the year but wouldn't share the content of these conversations.

Such a cute kid!
Hits home, since my grandsons are 10.
Absolutely NOTHING I wouldn't do to protect them!

Not sure what else the parents could have done, but maybe pull him from school.

But now? I would go after the school, the parents of the kids that assaulted him on the bus, everyone involved.

Kids can be A holes to begin with. Throw in no discipline, no guidance on behavior, plus possible bad behavior learned at home and they are 10x worse.

Rain hell on everyone involved.

Another article

Liability vs mental illness (of the admin at the school) 😬

a reply to: FlyersFan

First of all, schools are always preaching about anti-bullying, but never seem to do sh*t about it unless it's a minority being looked at wrong or the kid of a rich family.

Second, I find it hard to believe that they complained 20 or more times and never took action. It's possible the boy was bullied at home, too, and thought his only way out was leaving this life behind. Parents then felt bad and blamed the school. Either scenario sounds plausible, we'll find out more I guess.

Third, I was bullied in school by a fat black kid when I was in 6th and 7th grade and also by a guy who was supposed to be in high school but failed multiple times. I spent the entire summer between 7th and 8th grade practicing different techniques so I could kick the fat black kid's arse the following year but his parents moved so I never saw him again. The other guy was just too big, but he wasn't physical, his bullying was verbal so it didn't bother me. This was also 1990 and 1991, my parents would've killed me again if I'd tried suicide. No easy way out back then, you dealt with it and grew stronger, got tougher skin. Kids these days can't handle the slightest amount of pressure without some kind of help from home. All we ever hear about in these newer generations are anxiety, too much this, too much that, mean spirited people, disorders, and so forth. Sh*t you never heard or rarely heard about when I was a kid.

originally posted by: chiefsmom
Such a cute kid!
Hits home, since my grandsons are 10.
Absolutely NOTHING I wouldn't do to protect them!

Not sure what else the parents could have done, but maybe pull him from school.

But now? I would go after the school, the parents of the kids that assaulted him on the bus, everyone involved.

Kids can be A holes to begin with. Throw in no discipline, no guidance on behavior, plus possible bad behavior learned at home and they are 10x worse.

Rain hell on everyone involved.

I had a best friend in the 7th grade (he was 8th grade) who lived just down the street, nerdy guy with glasses. We spent a lot of time playing Nintendo and watching shows like Bloodsport and Terminator. One day while at school, I saw police and an ambulance show up, EMT's rushed into the bathroom and wheeled my buddy out on a stretcher. Turned out, another 8th grader, loser who was 16 years old, had pushed him up against the bathroom wall so hard that he was knocked out when his head hit that old school tile wall and busted his head open. His parents complained, the school didn't want to expel the dummy who pushed him (only suspended him for 3 days). My friend's family packed up and were moved to Missouri within 2 weeks. The guy who pushed him failed the 8th grade again and was in my class the following year. He ended up hitting another 8th grader in the face so hard the kid's eye was swollen shut and he had blood all over the place. Guy still didn't get expelled, he ended up dropping out of school his Sophomore year at almost 20 years old.

After reading the second article, one thing I don't understand.

He had older siblings, including twin brothers.
Did they not stand up for him? Seems like they would at least ride the same bus.

Normally, that is what siblings do. ( or should!)

I was picked on. I was also pretty terrible to my younger sister.
But NOBODY else was allowed to pick on her.
And they learned that, pretty quickly.

originally posted by: chiefsmom
After reading the second article, one thing I don't understand.

He had older siblings, including twin brothers.
Did they not stand up for him? Seems like they would at least ride the same bus.

Normally, that is what siblings do. ( or should!)

I was picked on. I was also pretty terrible to my younger sister.
But NOBODY else was allowed to pick on her.
And they learned that, pretty quickly.

Yeah some things aren't really adding up. I've got 5 boys (21, 18, 17, 15, 7), 2 are 10 months apart and started school at the same time. I always told them never to let anyone pick on the other. My oldest graduated their Freshman year so he could only protect them so much, and another of my boys will be a Junior when school starts back, his two older brothers just graduated. My youngest is in a private academy because I didn't want him coming up in today's education system.

a reply to: FlyersFan

I never got beat up but I got bullied really hard constantly. All the kids on my bus knew my mom died mysteriously and would say that I was so ugly she died from looking at me or that she died because I sat on her because I'm so fat.

It really messed me up for a long time because hearing that stuff from age 6 on until we hit high school then it shifted because I went to the Richie rich high school and bought my clothes from garage sales so all the quote unquote rich kids made fun of me for that. Mysteriously none of the "rich" kids who lived in the big houses had their own car at 16 like I did or went on these extravagant vacations like I did because we were the kind of "not poor" people that didn't need to show off all the time. They showed it off but they didn't really have it.

I blame the bullies parents 100%. People are responsible for their children's actions and when your kid is a bully they are probably lacking self esteem which primarily comes from the love and attention of the parents.

Not the school's fault these parents raised a bunch of aholes who bullied a kid to death.

Poor baby - he should have been protected better, so many children don't get the help they need.

Why do people bully, well, it is important to understand the underlying issues - bullies act out of their own insecurities and fears, which can lead them to try to control or hurt others to feel powerful.

This should be a topic in school!

a reply to: FlyersFan

This breaks my heart. A friend of my brother in law took his own life some years ago and then his 13 year old daughter took her own life too, partially because of bullying.
I was bullied heavily in elementary school because I was admittedly pretty weird. I was bullied in junior high and high school because I was not only weird, but I was huge. I was 4-6" taller than anyone else in the school, and that tends to make insecure little sh*ts think they need to prove something. When I would report the bullying, nothing would happen. When I would finally get fed up with the bullying and retaliate, I would face serious repercussions. It was a damned if I do, damned if I don't kind of situation. I had classmates tell me that they thought I would eventually "reenact columbine" at my high school. No one ever did anything.
I personally think bullies need to get their a$$es beat and severely punished, but I admit that I am very very biased.

Some people are just sub-human garbage. I saw a video recently of some young girls on a public bus. There were six of them, probably ages 12 - 14. They sat down near a woman who looked to be in her 60s. The woman said "Hi girls!" in a cheerful voice. The responses from the young girls were sickening. It was like cruelty on a demonic level.
"Why are you talking to us?"
"You're fat and ugly. You should kill yourself."

The woman asked "Why are you being so mean to me?" She began crying. That was a signal to make the girls escalate their cruelty. They began laughing at her even more, mocking and taunting her. Now 2 or 3 of them had their cameras going.

Later that evening I saw these words on a church sign:
There is no such thing as a small act of kindness...
or of unkindness.

originally posted by: PrivateAngel
Poor baby - he should have been protected better, so many children don't get the help they need.

Why do people bully, well, it is important to understand the underlying issues - bullies act out of their own insecurities and fears, which can lead them to try to control or hurt others to feel powerful.

This should be a topic in school!

Schools act like they're heavily against bullying, but the teachers and administrations protect the bullies most of the time. When my 15 year old was in middle school, I found out he was turning the lights off in the bathroom when an autistic kid would go in there. Not only did he write an apology letter to the kid, but I blistered his ass with my belt.

My kids grew up with me constantly telling them that if they're being bullied, beat that bully's ass however you can. Kick balls, hit them with a stick, whatever it takes and I'll be up at that school ASAP to stand by them if they get in trouble, but if I find out they're the ones bullying, I'll be whooping their ass. All is good now.

I still, from time to time, think about my Freshman year when I took a box of grape Nerds from a retarded kid who was selling them for $1.00 for a fundraiser. I couldn't even sleep that night because I felt so bad. I approached him the next day, told him what I did, apologized, and put $18.00 in his little fundraiser bag, it was all the allowance money I had left. He tried to give me another box of Nerds but that made me feel even worse.

a reply to: ColeYounger2

And sadly, none of them likely would've acted like that if they'd been there without friends.

a reply to: FlyersFan

So sad to see and hear when this sort of thing happens....and these days it's seems to be happening Way more.

I was just reading about this story right before reading this post

Minnesota Mother Says Daughter was Attacked at School Because ‘She Wasn’t Muslim’ - LINK - Video

Larson’s daughter told her that the girls pulled her down by the hair and started punching and kicking her.

“She told me she tried to get up and when she tried to get up and go for help the first time, and I believe it was the first time that they had gotten her on the ground, that she was trying to fight back and they had told her that if she hit them or she touched them, that they would hurt themselves and tell the teacher that she had hurt them. So, she just told me, ‘You know, so all I could do there is lay there, Mom,’” Larson said.

It's sad to see such a young life ended.
Still the story seems a bit off.
Maybe the truth is exactly like what's being reported but I want to hear more.

I came across 'Children Learn What They Live' , a poem written by Dorothy Law Nolte when my kids were little. It made such an imoact that I hung it on the wall so I could read it every day.

Empathy is a learned behavior that doesn't seem to be taught as much anymore because todays' parents grew up in the 'me! me!' generation and weren't thaught empathy themselves.

Anyway, here's the poem.


Children Learn What They Live
by Dorothy Law Nolte

If children live with criticism,

They learn to condemn.

If children live with hostility,

They learn to fight.

If children live with ridicule,

They learn to be shy.

If children live with shame,

They learn to feel guilty.

If children live with encouragement,

They learn confidence.

If children live with tolerance,

They learn to be patient.

If children live with praise,

They learn to appreciate.

If children live with acceptance,

They learn to love.

If children live with approval,

They learn to like themselves.

If children live with honesty,

They learn truthfulness.

If children live with security,

They learn to have faith in themselves and others.

If children live with friendliness,

They learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

I've noticed something interesting about children who bully; in every case the parents of those children were seriously bullied all throughout their younger years. They seem to want their children to grow up endowed with the power not to be a victum, which in turn made them the perpetrator. One such child in our neighborhood grew up to murder a disabled girl for her $800.00 SS check when he was 20.
His father was a horribly abuse, drunken,, often violent man. Children learn what they live.

It's a terrible shame that basic parenting skills aren't a required subject all through highschool with every child required to learn and recite Dorothy's poem by heart.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
It's sad to see such a young life ended.
Still the story seems a bit off.
Maybe the truth is exactly like what's being reported but I want to hear more.

Same. Someone is lying between the school and the parents. I can't see making 20+ complaints and not pulling the child out or finding a way to get him homeschooled. I mean, really, TWENTY times and you continue to just complain. I honestly am not buying into that.

a reply to: nugget1

Good point, and poem. I can remember all the high schoolers going around with dolls or sacks of flour that they had to treat as if it were their own child because there was a class that taught students about parenthood. The class was split and each boy and girl were paired up for like 6 weeks or something. I don't remember the girl I was paired with, but I had zero motivation for that portion of the class so she did all the work.

originally posted by: chiefsmom
After reading the second article, one thing I don't understand.

He had older siblings, including twin brothers.
Did they not stand up for him? Seems like they would at least ride the same bus.

Normally, that is what siblings do. ( or should!)

I was picked on. I was also pretty terrible to my younger sister.
But NOBODY else was allowed to pick on her.
And they learned that, pretty quickly.

Had a similar situation when I was a pre teen. Getting physically and mentally abused by this group of older girls. I didn't know them they would come up and accuse me of doing things. I would get hit and head slammed into locker. They follow me to class beeing unpleasant. I was put into karate maybe a year earlier and I was taught not to do anything unless it was on a level of life threatening. So I kept my head down. I was the oldest child. But thank you for best friends older sister that hung with a rough crowd. She showed up to my school and confronted them. I was left alone after that. The teachers yard people saw. I told the yard people. They did not do anything. I told my mom. She told the school. They didn't do anything. I told my teachers. As a kid with learning disabilities I believe I was dismissed by them as over reacting.

But the one time I got into a fight a year before And it wad the other person who started it, I was the one who got suspended despite they practically broke my ribs.

a reply to: Cre8chaos79

I've always been told girls can be pretty mean. Pushing your head into lockers is bad. When I was a Freshman, a guy I hung in the same crowd with had told me he was looking under a mutual friend's mom's door and saw her naked. He said he got a boner, I was just like man how are you gonna look at your friend's mom like that? The next day at my small school, that SOB had started telling people that I'd told him I looked under the door, saw the mom naked, and played with myself. I denied it and said it was him, but it was too late. People were calling me jack off king before the end of the day and it was beyond horrifying, I'd been best friends with this woman's two sons since the 1st grade and looked up to her like a mom. This went on for a couple of weeks and I did my best to ignore it, but when I was in Small Engine class, the seniors were messing with me relentlessly and one of them leaned over to me and said "Dude, why TF would you not only look at your buddy's mom, but then whack off?" I put my head down on my desk and started crying which was even more embarrassing. After that, the senior was like "Hey y'all stop messing with him, he's over here crying now." FML... There's still probably people from back then who think I really did that.

Crazy part in all of that is that I wasn't even gonna tell anybody that the guy got hard looking at our friend's mom, but he spread the rumor that it was me so that people would think I was just blaming him in case I said something.