Poll of the Day > Parents SUE after their Son committed SUICIDE and was PUNISHED for bein RACIST!

(+) Yeah! (+)

Parents of 17 y/o Patrick McCalley, an Indiana Student who committed suicide because he was given a 2 hour in school suspension after he sent a RACIST SNAPCHAT to a black student, are now SUING the district because the intense punishment drove him to his death as they said there shouldn't have been any punishment for something so trivial!!

On October 6th, 2016, Patrick got in trouble by the school after he sent a snapchat message with a noose around a black man's neck to a classmate at Carmel High School.

As punishment he was escorted from the school and isolated for 2 hours where he was questioned by the principal over it.

He wrote a self-incriminating statement and signed an affidavit that threatened "penalties for perjury" if his statement wasn't true and was told he'd be expelled or suspended according to the lawsuit

After he was released, Patrick then went home that day and killed himself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound at 3:36pm.

Now Chris and Marilyn McCalley are suing the district and assistant principal, Toby Steele, school resource officer Phil Hobson and former district superintendent Nicholas Wahl on 8 counts including intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence.

They said Patrick was happy that day because he got an email from the US Air Force where he was going to enlist.

The suit says "When Patrick awoke on October 6, 2016, he was a happy, well adjusted boy and had just received email correspondence from a representative of the US Air Force and was excited for the future when he left home for school."

They said the school led him to suffer "extreme, intolerable and excessive fear and psychological distress" that led him to his death and that the punishment was unwarranted

Christopher McCalley found Patrick in his room but was too late to stop him as he tried to stop the bleeding and called 911..

They claim they got a call from the school that their son was in trouble but didn't know to what extent as Marilyn said they should have been involved. She herself is a teacher and said parents should always be involved in situations like this

The district said the facts they have in reviewing the tragedy are different on what is being portrayed int he lawsuit and will respond to the allegations on the situation that lead to the tragedy

In Indiana, there is no law stating a parent needs to be alerted if a student is questioned by school staff.

Patrick was remembered as a happy kid who was active in the marching band and was fascinated by airplanes and dreamed of joining the military

The McCalleys are now suing for damages including the loss of love and companionship of Patrick, as well as medical, burial and legal expenses

Do you think students should be punished if they send other students racist texts?

Patrick - Deceased

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/11/28/21/6766554-6439743-image-m-66_1543442122695.jpg

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/11/28/21/6766574-6439743-image-a-67_1543442129152.jpg

Patrick's Parents -

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/11/28/21/6766552-6439743-image-m-68_1543442132892.jpg
---

just sounds like a snowflake melted. he wasnt ment or cut out for society.

mrduckbear posted...

Parents of 17 y/o Patrick McCalley, an Indiana Student who committed suicide because he was given a 2 hour in school suspension

mrduckbear posted...

As punishment he was escorted from the school and isolated for 2 hours where he was questioned by the principal over it.

He wrote a self-incriminating statement and signed an affidavit that threatened "penalties for perjury" if his statement wasn't true and was told he'd be expelled or suspended according to the lawsuit

That doesn't sound anything like the in-school suspensions that I had when I was a kid.
---

Damn suicide over a 2 hour suspension and a stern talking to. This kid wouldn't have survived 2 seconds in any sort of boot camp. The fact that he sent someone a message like that did require some form of punishment which I felt was reasonable.
---

The kid killed himself over a 2 hour punishment apparently. Something tells me he had much more issues going on.

mrduckbear posted...

Do you think students should be punished for sending racist texts to their peers?

They should be punished for any form of abuse. What's worse is we now have some parents defending the shitbags who act this way because obviously their kid can do no wrong.
---

Dumb kid kills himself because people other than his parents won't just accept that behaving like an asshole to others is ok.
---

Sounds like he was trying to give some reason (although a very unconvincing one) to commit suicide. Maybe it was his way of justifying it to himself to finally do it.
---

I don't like how everyone in this topic so far is against the kid that died.
---

Lokarin posted...

I don't like how everyone in this topic so far is against the kid that died.

He killed himself. This doesn't give someone a free pass and his parents are making it worse.
---

Over a 2 hour suspension? I dont think he was as happy and well adjusted as the parents are trying to claim.

But yeah it should be punished and the punishment here was fine.
---

I'm the one with the mental condition that limits my empathy and sympathy, so why am I the only sympathetic one here?

Y'all are monsters.
---

wwinterj25 posted...

The kid killed himself over a 2 hour punishment apparently. Something tells me he had much more issues going on.

Yeah. You could possibly point to this specific incident as being what pushed him over the edge, but people don't commit suicide over two hours of much of anything (the the possible exception of genuine torture). He very obviously had deeper mental issues that needed addressing. I can understand why the parents would rather blame this one incident than admit that they missed months or years of suicidal ideation, but I don't think that's how blame should lie here.

Are they also going to sue themselves for giving their son access to the firearm that killed him...?
---

Lokarin posted...

I'm the one with the mental condition that limits my empathy and sympathy, so why am I the only sympathetic one here?

Y'all are monsters.

It's not the school's fault.

What were they supposed to do, give him a hug?
---

The fact that both the kid and the parents refuse to admit he was in the wrong goes to show what the real problem is.
---

Yeah, the fact that the parents likely taught him to be racist doesn't exactly help matters.

Lokarin posted...

I don't like how everyone in this topic so far is against the kid that died.

I don't understand what you're expecting. He seems to have done something to warrant punishment and then killed himself.

Why would I not be against him? You don't get to escape penalties to your actions if you just scream "I'M GONNA KILL MYSELF" every time you get caught.

BlackScythe0 posted...

Lokarin posted...

I don't like how everyone in this topic so far is against the kid that died.

I don't understand what you're expecting. He seems to have done something to warrant punishment and then killed himself.

Why would I not be against him? You don't get to escape penalties to your actions if you just scream "I'M GONNA KILL MYSELF" every time you get caught.

Someone was murdered for a thought crime (ya, I consider suicide murder...)
---

Uhh, he got a 2 hour suspension for bullying

Racist bullying

He got a 2 hour suspension and a scalding and he killed himself. Where do you get thought crime murder from this?
---

Yellow posted...

Uhh, he got a 2 hour suspension for bullying

Racist bullying

He got a 2 hour suspension and a scalding and he killed himself. Where do you get thought crime murder from this?

That was the most "slap on the wrist punishment" I can think of.

He had a racist thought and died because of it.
---

Lokarin posted...

Someone was murdered for a thought crime (ya, I consider suicide murder...)

Harassment is not a thought crime, and while there's a solid case to be made for charging people with murder for driving somebody to suicide, that's reserved for cases like that chick who egged her boyfriend on when he was attempting suicide, not a principal who reasonably punishes a student. That he killed himself is evidence of pre-existing mental illness, not that the punishment here was unreasonably traumatic.
---

adjl posted...

Lokarin posted...

Someone was murdered for a thought crime (ya, I consider suicide murder...)

Harassment is not a thought crime, and while there's a solid case to be made for charging people with murder for driving somebody to suicide, that's reserved for cases like that chick who egged her boyfriend on when he was attempting suicide, not a principal who reasonably punishes a student. That he killed himself is evidence of pre-existing mental illness, not that the punishment here was unreasonably traumatic.

That's an undue leap; we have no information other than what the teacher/principal (or whoever) claims. No credible witnesses. There could have been legitimate abuse, or blackmail, or any number of things. It could even have been overstated as is and it was just a sit-in and that's all and he was just assmad. But I'm not gunna let y'alls underplay a suicide.
---

Lokarin posted...

That's an undue leap; we have no information other than what the teacher/principal (or whoever) claims. No credible witnesses. There could have been legitimate abuse, or blackmail, or any number of things. It could even have been overstated as is and it was just a sit-in and that's all and he was just assmad. But I'm not gunna let y'alls underplay a suicide.

Presumably, the details of exactly what transpired will be investigated and considered in the lawsuit. There's no way any of us can know either way, but based on the information given, it absolutely sounds like suicide was a gross overreaction and he had preexisting mental health issues.
---

No matter what suicide is an intentional act, you can prosecute if you can show criminal intent on others but if a kid kills themselves because their parent took their video games away or something silly like that no one will prosecute them over something so trivial
---

Lokarin posted...

He had a racist thought and died because of it.

No, he had a racist thought, expressed it by harassing another student with a death threat, and he killed himself because he couldn't handle the consequences of his actions, not his thoughts.

The consequences we're incredibly mild, and he should have been expelled for threatening another student.

There are five jumps in logic right now. You sound like a real 2018 "skeptic", which is just mindless paranoia and outrage. This isn't an argument. It's no one's fault he killed himself, it's not murder. This is like blaming someone because they rejected someone who committed suicide after. You can't blame someone when someone commits suicide "to get back at them". That's just stupid.
---

Yellow posted...

You sound like a real 2018 "skeptic"

This isn't about skepticism - I just have a personal beef with the blame being passed around.
---

Wouldn't it be mind boggling if the snap he sent of the man being noosed was meant to represent the suicidal tendencies he felt and was trying to reach out?

To be fair, sending a picture of a black man with a noose around his neck to a black person could have been taken as an indirect threat.
This was more than merely a "racist text". He could have been implying he wanted the kid to hang himself, or that he was going to hang the kid.
I still don't see any reason why this event alone would drive someone to suicide.
Maybe his parents thought he was happy and well adjusted because they never paid attention to him, and just assumed he was fine because he didn't outright tell them anything had ever been wrong.

He was in the wrong and failed to see why. His parents are also in the wrong, and fail to see why. Seems like it must run in the family.
---

DrCidd posted...

To be fair, sending a picture of a black man with a noose around his neck to a black person could have been taken as an indirect threat.

Plus I misread the OP, so the deceased was being meaner than I thought - I thought he sent the picture to one of his friends to laugh at and got caught. So I'll backpedal on that.

But i still feel bad for the kid.
---

I feel bad for him too, even if he was a racist bag of turds. Nobody deserves depression. Blaming the school for his suicide, however, doesn't sound remotely reasonable.

Lokarin posted...

BlackScythe0 posted...

Lokarin posted...

I don't like how everyone in this topic so far is against the kid that died.

I don't understand what you're expecting. He seems to have done something to warrant punishment and then killed himself.

Why would I not be against him? You don't get to escape penalties to your actions if you just scream "I'M GONNA KILL MYSELF" every time you get caught.

Someone was murdered for a thought crime (ya, I consider suicide murder...)

Social media bullying is a real thing, and it can be EXTREMELY effective. Just because this stuff didn't exist in the 80s or 90s doesn't mean it's not a real thing.

Shit in most cases i think kids would rather get pushed down and or punched than have to deal with some unflattering picture on social media that could haunt them for months or years. Watch, American Vandal season 2 to see the full lengths of social media bullying.

Thought crime LOL oh man that is fucking hilarious.
---

Lokarin posted...

I'm the one with the mental condition that limits my empathy and sympathy, so why am I the only sympathetic one here?

Y'all are monsters.

thanks. i try

Lokarin posted...

BlackScythe0 posted...

Lokarin posted...

I don't like how everyone in this topic so far is against the kid that died.

I don't understand what you're expecting. He seems to have done something to warrant punishment and then killed himself.

Why would I not be against him? You don't get to escape penalties to your actions if you just scream "I'M GONNA KILL MYSELF" every time you get caught.

Someone was murdered for a thought crime (ya, I consider suicide murder...)

This is a fucking lie.

If someone stands up in class yells "FUCK YOU" to the teacher gets detention and then kills them self is that murder for a thought crime?

No. It's a normal punishment. They didn't do anything to drive this little shit bag to suicide.

Wait, was he being punished for something he did at school or off-premises? If this is about something he did at school, then the punishment certainly seems warranted.
---

The kid obviously had much deeper issues, no one in a stable state of mind would kill themselves over something so trivial. Maybe it was the tipping point but the parents are just using it as a scapegoat.
I'm no sjw but if you are going to be that overtly racist then yeah you should be punished. You can't just not punish bad behavior because the off chance someone does something crazy.
---

coreekymon posted...

The kid obviously had much deeper issues, no one in a stable state of mind would kill themselves over something so trivial. Maybe it was the tipping point but the parents are just using it as a scapegoat.

Teens are inherently volatile, especially ones who hadn't previously got into trouble.
---

2 hour suspensions are intense punishments and a week off for thanksgiving...what a weak ass generation...we are fucked!
---

The parents had no idea their son's mental state was so fragile? They sound like poor parents. If they did know about his state, they left a and ammo in the home which is FAR worse.

Better dead than racist.
---