Northeast
Family of New Jersey girl, 14, bullied to suicide alleges school failed to act
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Jocelyn Walters, a 14-year-old New Jersey tri-athlete and huge fan of The Smashing Pumpkins, died by suicide on Sept. 9, 2022 after enduring months of harassment and bullying from her peers.
Now, Jocelyn’s parents, Fred and Solangie “Soly” Walters, are suing the Middletown Township School District, the school board and other defendants — including Jocelyn’s teachers and nurses at a local mental health clinic — for allegedly failing to take appropriate action to prevent the 14-year-old from taking her own life.
The lawsuit also lists 10 John and Jane Does “who harassed, intimidated, bullied and/or otherwise abused Jocelyn” as defendants.
“Jocelyn was the student that you wanted. She was the teammate that you wanted. The player that you wanted. She was always there. First one on the field. Last one off,” Fred Walters told Fox News Digital.
SOUTH CAROLINA FAMILY OF BOY, 13, WHO DIED BY SUICIDE SUES SNAPCHAT AFTER SEXTORTION SCHEME
Jocelyn Walters died by suicide on Sept. 9, 2022, at age 14. (Family handout)
By the time she entered high school in 2021, Jocelyn had dreams of going on to study law at Notre Dame, but those dreams were cut short when she fell victim to intense bullying and harassment by other students, in person and online.
“Jocelyn’s death by suicide took place after an extended and persistent pattern of harassment, intimidation, bullying and abuse directed against her that took place during, and following, the 2021/2022 school year at the High School,” the complaint states. “The repeated pattern of … abuse occurred despite ongoing and repeated complaints of same made by the Plaintiffs, and others, to the Board/District and Board Defendants.”
INDIANA BOY, 10, DIES BY SUICIDE AFTER SCHOOL BULLYING, PARENTS SAY
Jocelyn Walters was a star soccer goalie for her travel soccer team in New Jersey. (Family handout)
The lawsuit alleges that one bully in particular, identified only as J.M., tormented Jocelyn by sharing her personal information, making fun of her on private social media webpages, removed Jocelyn from group chats, cropped her face out of photos posted on social media and attempted to isolate her from her friends and boyfriend.
“The High School, the Board/District and the Board Defendants were aware of this conduct and did nothing to protect Jocelyn from harm,” the complaint says.
NJ SCHOOL DISTRICT TO PAY $9.1M SETTLEMENT TO FAMILY OF BULLIED GIRL, 12, WHO TOOK HER OWN LIFE
Jocelyn Walters was a tri-athlete and star goalie on her travel soccer team. (Family handout)
Fred Walters said he hosted sleepovers with Jocelyn’s bullies, who were once her friends, under his own roof before they allegedly began tormenting his daughter.
“This group of kids actually slept in my house between Christmas and New Year’s,” he explained, “and somewhere in January, from what I understand, there might have been some sort of text exchange … in a group chat, and then this girl just seemed to want to push her out. And what I understood before, and even more so after, was this seemed to be this girl’s M.O.”
CYBERBULLYING ON THE RISE: 12-YEAR-OLD WAS ‘ALL-AMERICAN LITTLE GIRL’ BEFORE SUICIDE
Fred Walters alleged that J.M. made Jocelyn feel comfortable confessing things to her and being vulnerable before she turned on Jocelyn and tried to isolate her from their mutual group of friends.
Jocelyn Walters had dreams of studying at Notre Dame and becoming a lawyer. (Family handout)
Jocelyn first tried to take her own life in May 2022, months before her death. She was hospitalized and treated after the initial attempt.
“‘I’m honestly going to try and keep instigating her…’”
“Even while Jocelyn was in the hospital … J.M. posted in a group chat the following day regarding Jocelyn: ‘I wonder if she’s going to do anything back . . . I’m honestly going to try and keep instigating her until she actually does something to me that I can get her in trouble for,’” the complaint alleges.
FAMILY OF BULLIED GIRL WHO KILLED HERSELF SUES SCHOOL DISTRICT, CLAIMS PRINCIPAL ‘HUMILIATED’ HER
The lawsuit further claims that in August 2022, after her hospitalization, Jocelyn was referred to a nurse at a mental health clinic who “negligently doubled Jocelyn’s antidepressant medication without knowing the dosage she was taking” and “failed to notify Jocelyn’s parents of her emergent condition.”
A lawsuit filed by Jocelyn Walter’s parents states that the 14-year-old girl was subjected to relentless bullying that school officials did nothing to stop. (Family handout)
On the day before and the day of her death, Jocelyn also reported to the school nurse, “who failed to take appropriate action given Jocelyn’s history and further failed to alert Jocelyn’s parents of this/these visits,” the complaint alleges.
“Hours later, on September 9, 2022, Jocelyn took her own life,” the lawsuit states. “Immediately thereafter, J.M. texted the following regarding Jocelyn’s death: ‘[s]he died stop making controversy about it.’”
CHICAGO PREP SCHOOL’S ‘NEGLIGENT BEHAVIOR’ TOWARD CYBERBULLYING LED TO STUDENT’S SUICIDE, PARENTS ALLEGE
The day before and the day of her death, Jocelyn Walters reported to the school nurse, her family’s lawsuit alleges. (Family handout)
Jocelyn’s family alleges that Jocelyn, her sister, her parents and her friends all reported the bullying that Jocelyn was enduring in and outside school, but their concerns went ignored. School officials allegedly did nothing to punish the students who participated in the harassment that led up to Jocelyn’s suicide.
Following Jocelyn’s death, on Oct. 26, 2022, Middletown High School North sent her parents a letter acknowledging that Jocelyn “may have been a victim of an act of” bullying, and the school launched an investigation into those allegations.
“[T]he District did not find any evidence that Jocelyn was the target of the investigated act of harassment, intimidation, or bullying.”
“After careful consideration of evidence yielded from the investigation, the District did not find any evidence that Jocelyn was the target of the investigated act of harassment, intimidation, or bullying,” the letter states.
READ THE LETTER:
Walters’ lawyer, Jeffrey Youngman, told Fox News Digital that bullying does not “just go away unless you apply the proper form of discipline.”
“Children react to discipline,” he said. “It’s a personal deterrent, and it’s a broader deterrent. But if you’re not administering … that discipline at all, it’s just going to foster their behavior. And that’s what happened here. Nobody was disciplined.”
The day Jocelyn died started out like any typical school day. Fred Walters dropped his two daughters off at school that morning and went to work. After school, Jocelyn’s sister went to see a show at a concert venue with her friend, but Walters could not get a hold of Jocelyn despite calling and texting her.
An older photo of Jocelyn Walters. (Family handout)
He figured she might be taking a nap in her room due to her busy schedule with sports and her job on the local beach boardwalk. She had also been experiencing some fatigue due to her increase in medication. However, when Fred Walters opened her bedroom door that afternoon, he found her deceased.
“I felt that that medication was a very, very big component.”
“That is an image that I work very hard to get out and … from the very beginning, I felt that that medication was a very, very big component,” he said.
The lawsuit notes that while the national suicide rate among people ages 10-24 saw no significant change between 2001 and 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recorded a 62% increase in suicide for that age group between 2007 and 2021. Among girls, 30% said they have seriously considered attempting suicide — up 60% from 2011, according to CDC data.
Among girls, 30% said they have seriously considered attempting suicide — up 60% from 2011, according to CDC data. (Family handout)
The complaint also notes that “[t]he use of antidepressants in children and adolescents has increased substantially since 2005, despite the lack of convincing evidence that the benefits outweigh the risks and treatment-emergent suicidality remains a major concern.”
The school board and district said they do not comment on pending litigation.
The board introduced a cellphone ban in district schools on June 26, citing studies that show an increase in students’ academic performance, a significant decrease in suicidal ideation, fewer harassment and bullying incidents and better socialization when their cellphones are not accessible throughout the day.
Jocelyn Walters playing soccer when she was younger. (Family handout)
An attorney for the school district and school board, Eric Harrison, said they “intend to respond to these claims solely through the legal process.”
Fred Walters feels there were failures “every step of the way” that led to Jocelyn’s death.
“I’m fighting for my daughter, but through this, I just see so many failures.”
“These girls start doing what they did and pushing her out and trying to cancel her. And, then you’ve got the adults in the room that are not doing their job or following their really failed policies and politics, and their cover-your-ass paperwork,” he said. “I’m fighting for my daughter, but through this, I just see so many failures … and other parents that are coming to me with their problems that haven’t been addressed because it’s an isolation of the parents.”
Now, Walters is just hoping to keep his daughter’s name and memory alive while he pursues justice. He created a nonprofit called 99 Smiles that aims to normalize the conversation about youth mental-health and expand resources.
Read the full article from Here
Connecticut
Family called Connecticut police about suspect in D.C. Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, Trump says
Family members of the accused gunman who tried to storm the ballroom at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner alerted police in Connecticut with concerns about the man, the president said Sunday.
In an interview with Fox News Channel, President Donald Trump said the man — who was armed with guns and knives — had written about targeting Trump administration officials.
Separately, police in New London confirmed in a statement that a person contacted them at approximately 10:49 p.m., about two hours after the incident. Police said the person expressed concern about events that unfolded earlier that evening at the dinner.
“The reporting individual wanted to share information they believed to be pertinent to the matter,” the statement said.
New London police immediately contacted federal law enforcement partners. Both local and federal officers then interviewed the person, according to the statement.
“The New London Police Department remains committed to working collaboratively with our law enforcement partners at all levels to ensure public safety,” the statement said.
New London police said their investigation into the matter is no longer active and directed further inquiries to the U.S. Secret Service. The federal agency didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The suspect, identified by law enforcement officials as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, was expected to face criminal charges on Monday from the Justice Department, whose acting leader, Todd Blanche, said the suspect traveled by train from California and checked in as a guest days earlier at the Washington hotel where the Saturday night gala dinner was held with its typically tight security.
Authorities said Allen attempted to charge into the cavernous ballroom at the Washington Hilton but was tackled to the ground in a violent scene that resulted in shots being fired, Trump being hurried off the stage and guests ducking for cover beneath their tables.
Fox reported Sunday that the White House said Allen’s brother contacted New London police and reported Allen had sent family members “an alleged manifesto outlining his intent to target administration officials.”
During a live telephone interview, Fox News journalist Jacqui Heinrich asked the president to comment on information she said was provided by the White House about the suspected shooter and his motive.
“I’m being told that he had a manifesto saying he wanted to target Trump administration officials,” Heinrich said. “He had a lot of anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric on his social media accounts, and left a manifesto in his hotel room that his brother had notified New London police about prior to this incident.”
She added that secret service agents had been talking to Allen’s family members, and that Allen attended a No Kings protest in California. She asked Trump for his reaction to the new details.
“I heard about the London situation and I wish they would have told us about it a little bit,” Trump said. “But it is what it is.”
A law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press the suspected shooter sent writings to family members minutes before the attack in which he railed against Trump administration policies and referred to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin.”
The writings made repeated references to Trump without naming him directly and alluded to grievances over a range of administration actions and recent events, including U.S. strikes on drug smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific, the official said Sunday.
The official was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Allen’s brother contacted police in New London after receiving the writings, according to the official.
This story has been updated. Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Earlier this month, Maine was firmly on track to become the first state to institute a moratorium on AI data centers.
The state’s Democrat-controlled legislature officially passed a bill that would ban data centers that carry a load of 20 megawatts or more until November 1, 2027, and create a 13-member council to evaluate the impact of data centers. The bill had moved on to Governor Janet Mills for approval.
But this weekend, Mills vetoed the bill, and Maine joined a growing list of states that have tried and failed to instate a data center moratorium.
Mills’ opposition to the moratorium stems from a single data center project planned in a small town in Franklin County.
“A moratorium is appropriate given the impacts of massive data centers in other states on the environment and on electricity rates,” Mills wrote in a letter announcing her veto decision. “But the final version of this bill fails to allow for a specific project in the Town of Jay that enjoys strong local support from its host community and region.”
The Town of Jay had been reeling from the job loss following the 2023 closure of a mill, and according to Mills, had been looking forward to the hundreds of temporary construction jobs and the several permanent positions that would be created by the data center that is planned for construction on the site of the old mill. Mills said that officials from the Town of Jay, Franklin County Commissioners and the regional Chamber of Commerce all sent letters to her expressing support for the data center project and asking for an exemption.
“I supported the exemption and would have signed this bill if it had included it,” Mills said.
Although she vetoed the bill, Mills announced that she would sign a separate bill that would block data center projects from participating in some state tax incentive programs and would still establish a council that would “examine and plan for the potential impacts of large-scale data centers in Maine.”
If it had passed, the Maine bill would have been the first significant regulatory outcome in the U.S. of rising public dissent against AI and the unprecedented data center buildout it has led to. Artificial intelligence has become a concept particularly unpopular in the public eye, in large part due to its negative impact on mental health, war, the environment, and the job market.
On top of that, local activists around the country are also staunchly against data center projects, worried about the soaring utility bills, water shortages, air pollution and increased local temperature often associated with the mega structures. In some instances, the opposition has even turned violent, like in Indianapolis, where a shooting took place at the home of a local politician who is in favor of a controversial local data center project. Just a few days after the Indianapolis incident, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home in San Francisco was hit with a molotov cocktail.
A big tenet of the anti-AI data center push calls for moratoriums on new project developments to give researchers and policymakers time to catch up to the rapidly evolving technology and understand its true impact on local communities, human health, the economy, and the environment. Moratorium supporters claim that with a clearer understanding of AI’s impact, governments can introduce adequate guardrails to ensure the responsible development of these AI data centers.
Mills’ decision in Maine could soon be judged at the ballot box. The governor is running for the Democratic Senate seat in the upcoming Maine primaries, and is currently trailing her opponent Graham Platner in polls. Platner had recently told the press that he thinks Mills should sign the bill into law.
A search is underway after a report that a crew member of the C/S Norwegian Breakaway was seen falling from the Boston-bound cruise ship, U.S. Coast Guard officials said Sunday.
The Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England received a report from the C/S Norwegian Breakaway regarding a crew member who had fallen overboard about 12 miles east of Wellfleet. The C/S returned to the last known place of the person and deployed their rescue boat and life rings.
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter arrived on scene at around 1 a.m. to assist the search along with a crew from the Coast Guard Station Provincetown, officials confirm.
Officials are currently still conducting an aerial search as of SUnday morning along with the Station Provincetown Crew.
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