‘Words Do Hurt’: Parents of 12-Year-Old Black Girl Who Hanged Herself After Alleged Bullying By Classmates Sue South Carolina School Teachers and District for Negligence

The parents of a 12-year-old Black girl who attempted suicide last year are suing her teachers and the school district in Greenville County, South Carolina, for negligence in how they responded to alleged bullying and harassment of their daughter. Ty Turner says she found her daughter Kelaia hanging from a belt in her bedroom on the evening of March 18, 2023. She told WYFF that her daughter was already cool to the touch and bleeding from her nose and that paramedics couldn’t find a pulse or heartbeat for a full eight minutes. “She had fully committed to what it was that she was attempting to do,” said Turner. Ty Turner’s daughter, Kelaia, hung herself after being bullied by classmates for her appearance. (Photos: Facebook/Ty Turner) Kelaia suffered severe brain damage and was in a coma for weeks, staying in the hospital for 101 days. Now 14, she is nonverbal and still has no control over her body, says Turner. She is dependent on a tracheostomy tube to breathe and a feeding tube and requires around-the-clock care from her parents and a part-time nurse. According to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in South Carolina, Greenville Division, Kelaia Turner first...