The family of Tyler Clementi, a
freshman Rutgers University gay student who was bullied to death, may
sue the school, the AP reported.
Eighteen-year-old Clementi jumped off
the George Washington Bridge to his death in September after learning
that his roommate had secretly streamed live video of him having sex
with another man onto the Internet. Dharun Ravi and another
freshman, Molly Wei, claim they are innocent of charges that they
invaded Clementi's privacy. Both
students have since withdrawn from Rutgers.
Clementi's parents claim the school
failed to protect their son.
Rutgers “failed to implement or
enforce policies that would have prevented or deterred such acts,”
Stephen DeFeo, a lawyer representing the Clementi family, said. On
Friday, DeFeo filed a notice to sue, the first step in filing a
lawsuit.
E.J. Miranda, a spokeswoman for
Rutgers, denied the school was responsible for Clementi's death.
“We at the university share the
family's sense of loss of their son, who was a member of our
community,” she said in a statement. “We also recognize that a
grieving family may question whether someone or some institution
could somehow have responsibility for their son's death. While the
university understands this reaction, the university is not
responsible for Tyler Clementi's suicide.”
Ravi allegedly twice tweeted to
followers that he was streaming his roommate's sexual encounters.
“Roommate asked for the room till
midnight. I went to Molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him
making out with a dude. Yay.”
A second tweet two days later: “Anyone
with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and
12. Yes it's happening again.”
A day after the messages, Clementi, a
gifted violinist, wrote on his Facebook page, “Jumping off the gw
bridge sorry.”