Family of Bullied Teen Sues Town Over His Suicide

The parents of a 15-year-old who killed himself in 2013 after years of "unremitting bullying" have sued their Connecticut town and its board of education, accusing them of ignoring the problem and their own anti-bullying policy, NBC New York reports. According to the Greenwich Time, Bartlomeij "Bart" Palosz shot himself with his father's hunting rifle after his first day as a sophomore following a failed attempt to kill himself with pills a few months earlier. Bart's parents are seeking an unspecified amount greater than $15,000 in their lawsuit. The family's lawyer tells the Time that recently revealed documents compiled on Bart by his middle school and shared with his high school are a "smoking gun."

In these documents, staffers are quoted as saying "everyone" was mean to Bart because he "pushes people's buttons" and that he wanted to be liked but was "very socially awkward" and "annoying to peers," according to NBC. The Time reports the documents show incidents of verbal and physical bullying—one resulted in stitches—and include the phrase "social work needed." The lawsuit claims this proves the schools knew about the bullying but didn't protect Bart or punish his tormentors as required by their anti-bullying policy. (More bullying stories.)