The family of a South Carolina teenager who suffered lasting damage after attempting suicide as a result of chronic bullying has filed a negligence lawsuit against her school district.
According to the lawsuit filed on November 12, Kelaia Turner first complained about being bullied by other students at Greenville County’s Dr. Phinnize J. Fisher Middle School in August 2021. She was eleven years old at the time. However, the bullying not only continued for a year and a half, but it was apparently encouraged by some of the school’s teachers.
The lawsuit accused the school and nine middle school teaching and administration personnel of “negligent, grossly negligent, reckless, and wanton acts” that resulted in Kelaia Turner’s attempted suicide in March 2023.
According to the lawsuit, in December 2021, pupils referred to Turner as “a man and roach in [teacher] Olivia Bennett’s class.” Bennett was accused of being “complicit” in the bullying and “said nothing to the other students to stop it.”
When one pupil reportedly enquired, “Where’s the roach?” Bennett reportedly aimed towards Turner.
Kelaia’s mother, Ty Turner, detailed several more insults and racist slurs that her daughter had received from classmates in an October 2024 Facebook post, including “Moustache Face,” “Ugmo,” and “FatBlackUgly.”
Another incident described in the lawsuit occurred in May 2022, when Turner’s classmates played a racist YouTube video in class in an attempt to taunt her. John Teer, the teacher of that class, “allowed the song to be played without any comment on its offensiveness, nor any reprimand or discussion with the student who played it.”
There were also reports of physical altercations between Kelaia and other pupils, which resulted in Kelaia being reprimanded but not the others. An October 2022 incident detailed a student continually “pushing” Kelaia, but the only action taken by the faculty was to request that the next incident be reported to them. The complaint stated: “The bullying continued, resulting in [Kelaia]’s clothes being hung, water being poured on them, and then thrown into the trash.”
The continual bullying culminated on March 17, 2023, when Kelaia Turner, then 12, “attempted suicide by hanging as a direct result of the bullying of five Fischer Middle students.”
Ty Turner told WYFF, a local NBC station, that at 11:18 p.m., she saw her daughter “hanging.” When paramedics came, she was cool to the touch, had blood running out of her nose, and had urinated on herself. She had fully committed to what she was striving to accomplish, and she was gone for eight minutes. They could not discover her pulse or heartbeat. “There were grown men in the room crying.”
Kelaia Turner was revived and spent 101 days in the hospital, including many weeks in a coma. She ultimately sustained “significant brain damage.” Ty Turner told WFYY that her daughter does not have control over her body right now. She requires complete care, is nonverbal, has a trach, and is fed through a tube. She requires round-the-clock care, which is primarily provided by her father and I. We recently hired a nurse who works three days a week.”
She went on to say, “It’s an absolute mountain.”
To make matters worse, in the days following Kelaia’s hospitalisation and 31-day stay in the intensive care unit, some students were given access to her while she was unconscious and photographed her with the intention of mocking her further on social media. According to the complaint, “[a]fter the pictures were circulated, [another student] also assisted in spreading rumours about [Kelaia]’s injuries.”
The day after those students posted pictures of an unconscious Kelaia, her mother, who was unaware of the photos, emailed the school to file a formal complaint “regarding the lack of enforcement of Fischer Middle’s anti-bullying policies,” claiming that Kelaia “had been reporting incidents of bullying since 2021 with no intervention.”
The principals replied that the school has “a zero-tolerance policy for bullying but no way to enforce it.”
Ty Turner learnt about the photographs weeks later.
The lawsuit alleged that “[a]s a direct result of the bullying that had occurred since 2021, [Kelaia Turner] attempted suicide by hanging and is now on total life support with severe brain damage.” She requires 24 hour care.”
Kelaia’s family seeks actual and punitive damages against the school and the nine identified defendants, which will be assessed by a jury.
Ty Turner launched a GoFundMe campaign to aid with some of Kelaia’s medical and care bills after coming forward with their tale. The Turner family had previously kept nameless in their case due to the possible “embarrassment and publicity” following the months of bullying. It has already exceeded the $15,000 goal.
Law & Crime contacted Greenville County School District and the Turner family’s solicitors. They did not promptly react to the request for remarks.