‘I Gave Up’: Bullied 13 Year Old Takes His Life, Says Catholic School Teachers Did Nothing to Help
New York City Teen’s Note, and His Family, Describe Pattern of Abuse and Bullying From Students and Staff
13-year old Daniel Fitzpatrick took his life Thursday, after leaving a note accusing his fellow classmates of relentless bullying and physical abuse, and his teachers at Holy Angels Catholic Academy in Brooklyn of ignoring the attacks. Daniel’s sister found him in the attic of the family’s Staten Island home.Â
Daniel, in his note, which the New York Daily News published, says his friends turned on him and “constantly” bullied him. He describes fights with his fellow classmates, and says the bullying “continued.”Â
“I gave up,” Daniel wrote. The teachers, he says, “they didn’t do ANYTHING!” He adds, “I told all the teachers,” and says only one helped him, but her efforts “didn’t last long.”
The note concludes, “I wanted to get out. I begged and pleaded. Eventually I did,” he writes. “I failed but I didn’t care I was out that’s all [I] wanted.”
Holy Angels Catholic Academy in June returned the family’s registration check, telling Daniel’s parents he needed to repeat 7th grade but should do so elsewhere. The school maintains it takes bullying very seriously and through a spokesperson says it believes it did everything possible for Daniel.
“Daniel’s complaints about bullying did not fall upon deaf ears,” Carolyn Erstad said at a press conference. “The principal believes she did everything in her power to help Daniel, and to deal with any students accused of bullying.”
The Daily News reports Daniel’s father “said the principal told him she didn’t think Holy Angels would be a ‘good environment’ for Daniel to be a grade behind, that it might ‘damage his psyche.'” Daniel’s father blames the bullying for his son’s performance, saying the teen’s “confidence was completely shattered.”
Daniel’s parents “said the boys targeted him during gym class, often throwing balls at him. A teacher also embarrassed Daniel by calling him ‘lazy’ in front of the class, the boy’s father alleged.” Daniel’s 17-year old sister, who found him in the attic, also attended Holy Angels and “and said the teacher was known for humiliating students.”
“He would hold up tests and papers at school dismissal, publicly displaying students’ scores to embarrass those who did poorly,” she said.
Daniel’s mother told the News, “Danny said that he was afraid of his teachers.â€
“He felt like the whole school knew what was going on and was laughing behind his back. They humiliated him.â€
“My son is not supposed to be dead,†she said. “My son is supposed to be playing football. My son is supposed to be home with his family.â€Â
Daniel’s father posted this video to Facebook, saying he misses his son who son “was a kind, gentle little soul” and “didn’t have a mean bone in his body.”
“You get to hold your children every night and day for the rest of your lives and their natural lives,” he said to fellow parents. “I don’t get that anymore,” he added.
Posted by Daniel Fitzpatrick on Saturday, August 13, 2016
CBS News reports the “NYPD confirms they are investigating.”
One of Daniel’s sisters created a GoFundMe page so the family can honor his life in “a proper memorial, as well as shine a bright light on the bullying that killed him.”
“My brother was thirteen years old, he did not have life insurance, because he wasnt supposed to die. This was a very unexpected tragedy for my family and we were not prepared for it.”
She asked for $10,000 on August 12. As of this writing the fund has received over $70,000. A note on the GoFundMe page says they are looking for an “organization that fights bullying and encourages suicide awareness” to donate to.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, there are many people available to help. Call 911 if there is an immediate risk.Â
You can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, or call them at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
States offer federally-funded free or low-cost mental health services. Use the SAMSHA locator or call 1-800-662-4357.
The Trevor Project helps LGBTQ young people 13-24. Visit them online or call 1-866-488-7386. The Trevor Project is also on Twitter and Facebook.
Â
Image via GoFundMe
Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.
NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.
Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.
 |
Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.
Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”
“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”
In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”
He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”
“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”
“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.
“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”
Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.
Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.
“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”
The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”
TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”
Critics blasted Trump.
“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.
One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”
Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”
The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.
According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.
Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”
“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”
Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.
The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.
“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.
The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.
“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”
Image via Reuters
Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation
Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs
One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won
Inside the Group Helping MAGA Voters Walk Away — And What Finally Pushed Them
