{"id":22434,"date":"2024-05-21T13:44:22","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T17:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=22434"},"modified":"2024-05-21T13:44:22","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T17:44:22","slug":"god-didnt-take-my-kid-hate-did-bullied-10-year-olds-suicide-shocks-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/05\/god-didnt-take-my-kid-hate-did-bullied-10-year-olds-suicide-shocks-community","title":{"rendered":"\u201cGod didn’t take my kid; hate did\u2026\u201d Bullied 10-Year-Old\u2019s Suicide Shocks Community"},"content":{"rendered":"
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GoFundMe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A small town in Indiana is grieving the loss of a 10-year-old boy after he took his own life on May 5th<\/sup>, 2024. The boy\u2019s father, Sam Teusch of Greenfield, IN, woke up to find that his son, Sammy Teusch, had committed suicide. Sammy\u2019s 13-year-old brother, Xander, discovered Sammy in his bedroom. \u201cHe\u2019ll be good until it\u2019s time to go to bed. When it gets quiet in the house and everything settles down \u2026 that\u2019s the roughest time,\u201d Sam said<\/a> of how Xander is dealing with making the discovery. \u201cI held him in my arms. I did the thing no father should ever have to do, and anytime I close my eyes, it’s all I can see,\u201d said<\/a> Sam of finding his son.<\/p>\n

The family reports that Sammy was the victim of bullying for months and that they had contacted the Greenfield-Central Community School system over 20 times to complain. According to Sam, the night Sammy took his own life, a bully had allegedly called him to say he was going to be beat up the next day. Sammy\u2019s parents state that not long before his death, Sammy had been attacked on the school bus, being smacked in the head with an iPad. He had also recently been cornered in the school bathroom. The bullying had been going on for over a year according to the family, with little response from the school. \u201cThey were making fun of him for his glasses in the beginning, then on to make fun of his teeth. It went on for a long time. He was beat up on the school bus, and the kids broke his glasses and everything, and I called the school, and I’m like, ‘What are you doing about this? It keeps getting worse, and worse, and worse. And it’s not getting any better. In fact, it’s getting worse,\u2019\u201d Sam recalled<\/a>. \u201cThere needs to be action,\u201d he said. \u201cThere needs to be accountability. There needs to be something that shows these defenseless children that even if you feel like there isn\u2019t someone at home to talk to or take care of, there are thousands of people out there that want to hear your voice. I want his image to be a source of empowerment for children who feel like they can\u2019t come to someone and speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sammy\u2019s funeral was May 15th<\/sup>. \u201cHow could God take my kid from here? Of course that was going through my head. God didn\u2019t take my kid; hate did,\u201d said his father<\/a>. Sammy\u2019s death is currently under investigation by the Hancock County Prosecutor, Brent Eaton, with the possibility of there being criminal charges. As any charges may involve children, very little information from the investigation may be available to the public. Superintendent of schools, Dr. Harold Olin, stated the family never submitted a bullying report but did confirm that the school administrators and counselors had regular contact with the family throughout the last year. Greenfield-Central Community Schools released a statement<\/a>, calling Sammy\u2019s death \u201ctragic.\u201d After describing the level of support the community and school was offering, the statement went on to relate the school\u2019s contact with the family, and its intention to cooperate with authorities. \u201cOur staff in Greenfield-Central has worked with the Teusch family quite a bit over the last 18 months. Contact between school personnel and the parents was frequent. The parents did report the manner of death as a suicide, and we are investigating their claims related to bullying. Beyond our own investigations we are cooperating with the Greenfield Police Department in this matter. While the investigation continues, we are primarily focusing our resources on meeting the immediate needs of the students we serve in Greenfield-Central Schools.\u201d The Greenfield Police Department encouraged parents to discuss bullying with their children and to encourage children to make their parents aware of any incidents. Please pray for the Teusch family as they deal with this tragedy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A small town in Indiana is grieving the loss of a 10-year-old boy after he took his own life on May 5th, 2024. The boy\u2019s father, Sam Teusch of Greenfield, IN, woke up to find that his son, Sammy Teusch, had committed suicide. Sammy\u2019s 13-year-old brother, Xander, discovered Sammy in his bedroom. \u201cHe\u2019ll be good…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":22437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cGod didn't take my kid; hate did\u2026\u201d Bullied 10-Year-Old\u2019s Suicide Shocks Community<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A small town in Indiana is grieving the loss of a 10-year-old boy after he took his own life on May 5th.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/05\/god-didnt-take-my-kid-hate-did-bullied-10-year-olds-suicide-shocks-community\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cGod didn't take my kid; 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