On December 17, 2021, Kelaia Turner, then 12, faced merciless bullying from five classmates, who called her ‘roach,’ and ‘a man’ and physically attacked her — driving the schoolgirl closer to taking her own life.
Rather than stopping the bullies, her teacher Bennett, 26, was allegedly ‘complicit,’ pointing at the abused student as her classmates jeered.
In 2023, the tormented girl tried to kill herself — a failed attempt that left her with brain damage and requiring round-the-clock care.
Her devastated mom, Ty Turner, and other family members are suing the school district, Bennet, and seven other educators for failing to answer their frantic calls for help.
‘They used to teach us, ‘Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me’,’ the mom told WYF44.
‘Unfortunately, words do hurt.’
Kelaia, now 14, was a promising student who enjoyed learning the piano and playing at recitals.
She endured more than a year of physical and verbal abuse at the hands of classmates at the school of some re 1,000 students, the suit says.
The lawsuit, filed at the US District Court for South Carolina last summer, says the taunting began in 2021, when Kelaia began wearing her natural braided hair to school.
Students called her ‘roach’ and other insults.
Her teacher, Bennett, a self-described ‘movie nerd and Disney fanatic,’ allegedly joined in with the bullies.
‘Ms. Bennett was complicit in the bullying and said nothing to the other students to stop it,’ the filings adds.
‘One student asked, “Where’s the roach?”, and Ms. Bennett pointed to’ Kelaia, the suit alleges.
Tensions escalated in 2022 when Kelaia got into a fight with another student, and educators decided to suspend her but not the bully, the complaint claims.
The tormentors went on to pour water on Kelaia’s clothes and then threw them in the trash, the lawsuit alleges.
Seeing suicide as her only way out, Kelaia attempted to take her own life at home in March 2023.
She was dead for eight minutes before paramedics could revive her.
Kelaia was left in a coma for weeks and had suffered severe brain damage that’s left her incapacitated.
While Kelaia was comatose, one of the bullies in April 2023 made their way inside the ICU and snapped photos of the intubated girl, according to the filing.
They posted the pictures on social media and spread rumors online about her injuries, adds the 24-page document.
The girl’s parents say they repeatedly complained about the bullying to school officials.
