Tributes and memorials are pouring in on social media for a Maple Ridge teenager who allegedly committed suicide due to bullying.
Amanda Todd’s story spread like wildfire through social media after her death.
Hashtag #RIPAmanda was a trending topic on Twitter this morning in Vancouver.
At Westview Secondary in Maple Ridge, one of Todd’s former schools, teens were well aware of her many struggles with alleged bullying.
“I know that there was some bad stuff leaked out and everyone made fun of her,” said Blake Jedsen a Grade 10 student at Westview Secondary in Maple Ridge. “That she was a mistake and stuff like that.”
He said it was known around school that she had made ‘mistakes’ on webcam.
“The bullying has been awful. She was beat up before, and the stuff that people said to her was unbelievable,” Grade 9 student Tessa Brass told Global News.
“I hope that people realize bullying goes further, people get pushed over the edge… and I hope people learn their lesson that words hurt, bullying hurts,” says Brass.
A YouTube video believed to have been posted by Amanda on September 7th shows her from the nose down using index cards talking about how she was bullied, what happened, and self-harming.
In the video, Amanda says she flashed her chest to someone she met online, and a year later her photo was everywhere. She was taunted by friends for her mistake and bullied.
She begged in the video that she needed someone who cared. She had moved schools to escape the bullying and harassment, but wherever she went, rumours followed.
Friends say the taunting became too much and at supper time Wednesday Amanda Todd took her own life in a Port Coquitlam residence.
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Amanda Todd’s video is heart wrenching.
She talks about incident after incident that she endured.
At one point she says she was surrounded by fifty or more students at her new school who wanted to beat her up.
“When she got beat up, she was waiting for her dad…This girl came up to her and started hitting and kicking her and she was thrown into a mud puddle, then her dad came looking for her and she lied down in a ditch somewhere,” Amanda’s former boyfriend Eric McCracken saif.
For 5 years, Amanda was part of the “Vancouver All Stars,” a cheer squad.
She’d been absent from the team for the last year or so, but her teammates and coaches described her as spunky and how she was always making others laugh.
Today’s news has hit everyone hard.
Coaches are encouraging their youngsters to lead when it comes to bullying, and to look around and find the next “Amanda” before another spunky teenager is lost.
School officials sent condolences to her family, but can say little because of privacy legislation. They say they are aware of Amanda Todd’s video and district intervention was in place.
In a statement released Thursday afternoon:
“The Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows School District was advised of Amanda Todd’s passing this morning, and extends its deepest and most sincere condolences to her family and friends. Our focus now is on providing support to our students and school community during this difficult time. Out of respect to Amanda and her family and because of privacy legislation, we are unable to provide any further comments at this time.”
“I don’t think there will ever be a day when bullying will be completely eradicated,” says Cheryl Quinton with Coquitlam School District. “We do what we can to keep awareness of it up, to try to sensitize people to it.”
Coquitlam RCMP have confirmed they are investigating the death. They say it has been determined that the teen’s death was not suspicious in nature and that foul play was not a factor.
RCMP won’t speculate if any of this could lead to charges, as expected Amanda Todd’s parents are devastated and have asked for privacy as they deal with her death.
Here is Amanda’s memorial Facebook page.
BC Premier Christy Clark has released the following video message after hearing about Amanda’s death:
If you are the victim of bullying and need someone to talk to:
Kids Help Phone
1-800-668-6868
Bullying Canada
1-877-352-4497
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