16-year-old Illinois boy commits suicide after police threatened him with lifetime sex registry

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Mon Apr 1, 2019, 10:01 AM - Edit history (1)

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16 year old boy commits suicide after police threatened him with lifetime sex registry about allegation of video sexual encounter with a female classmate.

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Judge dismisses lawsuit alleging police, school district contributed to Naperville North student's suicide

By Suzanne Baker
Naperville Sun
JANUARY 22, 2019, 5:20 PM

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the city of Naperville and Naperville School District 203 filed by the family of the Naperville North High School student who died by suicide after being called into the dean’s office for disciplinary action. ... The judge ruled school and police officials were doing their jobs when they conducted a Jan. 11, 2017, interview with Corey Walgren at Naperville North High School less than two hours before the 16-year-old junior slipped out of the school and jumped from the top of a downtown Naperville municipal parking deck.

The lawsuit accused the school’s deans Stephen Madden and James Konrad and Officer Brett Heun, then a resources officer at the school, of causing “extreme, intolerable and excessive emotional and psychological distress” and breaking the law by interrogating Walgren without first notifying his parents, Douglas and Maureen Walgren. ... It was also alleged the men made reckless and alarming accusations against the teen that “literally scared him to death,” Walgren family attorney Terry Ekl said when the suit was filed in May 2017.

In the 22-page ruling issued Jan. 17, Judge Andrea Wood wrote there is no evidence the defendants specifically intended to separate Walgren from his parents. “Rather, their actions were aimed at uncovering whether Walgren had engaged in criminal misconduct,” the ruling said. ... Wood also wrote that while the interrogation tactics used by the deans and police were “harsh and aggressive, they were nonetheless ordinary police interrogation tactics.”

According to the lawsuit, Heun and Madden questioned the teen about an allegation that he had a video of a recent sexual encounter with a female classmate on his phone and that he had played the recording for friends. They accused Walgren of possessing child pornography and threatened him with placement on the state's sex offender registry, according to the lawsuit. The recording they sought, however, ended up being a video file with no discernible images. Police described it as "very dark" and "more of only audio." ... Wood went on to write, “Faced with the implied threat of such consequences, it is perhaps unsurprising that a previously well-adjusted teenager’s emotional state could deteriorate to such a point that he would contemplate taking his life. Nonetheless, these events as currently pleaded do not plausibly allege the constitutional violations asserted by plaintiffs.”
....

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Copyright © 2019, Naperville Sun

[samnsara]

1. my gawd....

[unblock]

2. police conduct was "problematic and had tragic consequences" but didn't "exceed the bounds of

ordinary interrogation" and the key issue is whether or not the police conduct was "extreme and outrageous".


i would argue that if the conduct was "problematic and had tragic consequences", then it is by definition "extreme and outragrous" and the fact that it is within the bounds of "ordinary interrogation" is not a defense but rather a very damning indictment of standard police tactics.

[Chin music]

6. Why weren't the parents called before they interrogated a minor?

That's the question. It's not up to the folks who scared a kid to death to determine whether their adult behavior w a child crossed the line. Thats specifically one of the reasons parents are supposed to be called. To counter another adults tendency to be over bearing in situations like this, and the propensity of traumatizing a kid who is also, innocent until proven guilty. Sounds like some creepy old men wanted to see the video, and a lot of falderall went into the peformance, to attain the same.
Kids that age can't consent to whatever another adult requests on any level. Literally scared the kid to death. It wasn't a coincidence he jumped very shortly after this happened. Proximate cause? REFILE IT.

[janterry]

3. And there is no recourse for the family (lawsuit dismissed)

The registry is a disgrace. It's harmed more than it has helped, imo.

[RKP5637]

5. They often IMO stick people on the registry for flimsy reasons. n/t

[RKP5637]

4. This is horrific. Kids are emotionally charged and cops set about IMO to ruin this kid's life

forever without enough information and facts of the events. Finding no link to his suicide is bullshit IMO.

[Squinch]

7. A lifetime on a sex registry for possession of child porn and

for filming a sexual encounter with a classmate and sharing it with friends does not, actually, sound excessive to me. I imagine there is more to this story.

[Sherman A1]

8. Sad

Very Sad.