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Report: Bullying Didn't Cause Suicide

By
Jon Lewis
@ August 27, 2009 5:25 AM
Permalink | Comments (4)

(WSB Radio)  Bullying did not lead to the suicide of an 11 year old boy in DeKalb County.  That's the finding of a report on the death of Jaheem Herrera.

DeKalb County school officials released their final report Wednesday, which says the boy's death could not be attributed solely to "a simplistic case of bullying."

The report cites numerous factors that led to the suicide, including what investigators say was domestic abuse between the boy's mother and her boyfriend.

Jaheem was found hanged in his home in April.  At the time of his death, his mother blamed excessive and constant bullying from other students at Dunaire Elementary School in Stone Mountain.

The attorney for the family are dismissing the report, saying the school system is trying to shift attention away from problems at the school.

Retired Fulton County Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummins Moore conducted the investigation and had released its preliminary findings in May.  The report released on Wednesday is the final conclusions of the investigation.

In May, Moore said there was no evidence that Jaheem's death was due to bullying, and that school officials had acted quickly and efficiently when Jaheem had been involved in fights at the school.

Moore says Jaheem's teachers and the staff and administrators at Dunaire dispute the boy's mother's contention that she had complained repeatedly about Jaheem being bullied.  The report says Jaheem was a good student and was well liked.

The judge also documented domestic violence charges that have been filed against Norman Keene, the live-in boyfriend of Masika Bermudez, Jaheem's mother.  Those accusations go back to when they lived in St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and in Georgia.

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What others are saying

  • dude seriously
    wtf is wrong w/ tht mom! she is one "F"ed up person
  • Bullying Did Cause Suicide!
    The bullies appear to be the kids own parents.
  • blame
    All too often the blame, when dramatic events occur under circumstances as described above, may be ascertained by the parent/guardian peeking in a mirror.
  • Sorry mother's at fault
    OMG! What a sorry piece of humanity this mother is. And her lawyer can't be far behind. She doesn't care about her son. She's just trying to get rich off his death. What a piece of trash! I hope the court throws out this case. She deserves nothing. How dare she try to blame someone else for her negligence. She's disgusting and so is the lawyer!
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