The case of Adriana Kuch, the suicide of a young student whose family sued the entire school board

Editor’s note : If you live in the US and have thought about suicide, call the Suicide Prevention and Crisis Line at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to connect with a trained counselor.

The parents of a New Jersey girl who took her own life after the release of a video of a group of teenagers brutally beating her at the school she attended have filed a civil suit against the local school board and officials. The incident took place in the secondary school.

Adriana Kuch was a student at Berkeley Central Regional High School. She was found dead in her home two days after the assault that took place almost a year ago. His family believes that his suicide was the result The indifference of the school authorities led to prolonged harassment before the release of the video.

On February 1, 2023, while walking through the school hallway, the young teenager was stopped by four students, who brutally beat her for no apparent reason.

Video of the incident shows the attackers attacking the teenager with water bottles and their hands after cornering her in the school hallway.

In the roughly 20-second video, the attackers are seen punching, kicking and pulling the hair of Adriana, who lies defenseless on the hallway floor. At the end of the video you can hear the attackers insulting their victim.

However, the school did not call the police after the attack. As the school’s then-superintendent, Triantaphilos Parlapanides, explained to local news station ABC 7, the school district’s policy is not to call police to report attackers in these types of attacks.

“Usually we just suspend them. If the parents want to file charges with the police, they can do so,” Parlapanides told the outlet. “We will not give the child a double whammy by suspending him and then filing charges against him,” the school official added.

Parlapanides resigned after a series of protests by students, parents and teachers of the school. They turned the incident into a national scandal..

After Adriana’s father, Michael Kuche, reported his daughter’s beating to local authorities, one of the men involved was charged with aggravated assault, two more were charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, and a fourth was charged with harassment.

Two days after the video was published and after cyber threats, Adriana took her own life.

In a post on Facebook, which is no longer available, Kuch shared pictures of the beating. “Had the school contacted the police, filed a report and conducted an investigation, this video would have been discovered immediately,” Kuch wrote.

According to Kuch, the video, which was posted on the day of the attack on various social networks, including TikTok, was followed by a series of hateful and threatening comments online, leading to Adriana’s suicide. According to her father, it was shame and humiliation due to the release of the video that led his daughter to take a terrible decision.

“These four girls planned and executed this attack. “If you watch the videos I have, they’re laughing while talking about what they’re going to do,” Kuch wrote. “I had to take my bloody daughter to the local police station.”

Kuch said he will not rest until the families of his daughter’s attackers “have them appear before a judge and be found guilty.”

He also expressed disbelief that the school did not request medical assistance to help Adriana, who lost consciousness after the attack. “My daughter faints and they don’t call an ambulance, they take her to the infirmary,” he told local channel ABC 7.

After Adriana’s suicide, students and parents at Central Regional High School reported a pattern of bullying at the school due to the school district’s indifference.

A lawsuit filed by Adriana Kuch’s family alleges that school officials knew about the existence of a “culture of violence” at the high school and did nothing, according to a statement issued by the plaintiffs’ attorney.

The attack and the video “led her to public humiliation and suicide.”

The lawsuit was filed against the Central Regional School Board in Ocean County, former Superintendent Parlapanides, the high school principal, his assistant principal and other school officials.

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants had a duty to know that some students were being assaulted at the school and that “other students were recording and posting videos of the assault on various social media sites.”

“Adriana didn’t take her life because of TikTok,” the family’s lawyer, Bill Kreis, was quoted as saying by CNN. “She was physically assaulted, she was assaulted online and the school did not protect her,” the jurist added.

The lawsuit was filed days before the anniversary of Adriana Kuch’s death.

“Adriana was the light of our lives and one year after her horrific and unnecessary death, we are still waiting for justice.”said his father.

The civil suit seeks damages, injuries and emotional distress as well as punitive damages caused by the negligence and inaction of the defendants. However, no amount is specified in the lawsuit because New Jersey law does not allow specific amounts of damages to be sought in a lawsuit.

The lawsuit also seeks damages for defamation because it alleges that Parlapanides invaded the plaintiff’s privacy by making false statements about his family history, including allegations of infidelity and drug use.

The text of the lawsuit indicates that the school board “harassed, intimidated and Bullyingand was responsible for developing, implementing, and disseminating anti-harassment, bullying, and harassment policies and programs. Bullying Pursuant to New Jersey’s anti-harassment laws.”