Tormented 15-year-old Felicia Garcia jumped to death in front of train after bullying over sex with football players
Read more: Tormented 15-year-old Felicia Garcia jumped to death in front of train after bullying over sex with football players - NY Daily News
The tormented Staten Island teenager who killed herself by jumping in the path of a train was bullied to death by classmates after she had sex with four football players, police sources said Thursday.
Felicia Garcia, a 15-year-old freshman at Tottenville High School, was driven to her death when two classmates blabbed about the encounters — and she learned that it had been recorded.
“Kids are saying she had sex with some guys from the football team at a party after the game,” said a friend of the doomed girl who asked not to be identified. “Later on they wouldn't leave her alone about it. They just kept bullying her and bullying her.”
After the weekend, the bullying sent Felicia into the final tailspin in a long-troubled life.
Felicia Garcia committed suicide at this Tottenville train station.
“I cant, im done, I give up,” she tweeted Monday.
School officials heard of the bullying and set up a mediation session Wednesday with a counselor and one of the 17-year-old boys. The teenager denied harassing the girl, the sources said.
Leaving the office, Felicia later ran into the other 17-year-old who had been making her life miserable — and they exchanged words, the sources said.
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Police did not say what was said. But it was enough to send Felicia marching off to the Huguenot station of the Staten Island Railroad, where she killed herself in front of horrified classmates.
Senior Alissa Compitello said she saw Felicia on the way to the train station and the girl told her that she had the mediation because of the bullying.
“She was smiling though, like everything was going to be okay,” said Compitello, 17.
But a quick look at Felicia’s Instagram account would have revealed the depths of her despair. On it, she placed a picture of herself with the word “Depressed” covering her eyes.
“Just because someone is smiling doesn’t make them happy,” read her caption.
Friends say the teen was tormented in the days leading up to her suicide.
Even before her suicide, Felicia’s life was marked by tragedy, the sources said. She was living with a foster family and a chronic runaway who had been reported missing seven times, they said.
Detectives are now questioning the students accused of harassing Felicia and combing through Facebook and other social media for evidence that she was bullied. They have also questioned the four varsity football players with whom Felicia had sex.
They are between the ages of 15 and 16, the sources said.
“They said at no time was the victim pressured into doing anything,” one of the police sources said.
The Department Board of Education sent a crisis team to Tottenville HS. Dozens of students gathered for a vigil at the train station, where some yelled out “F--- the football team!”
“The day I met her she made me laugh,” said John Palma, 15, a sophomore. “She never did anything wrong to anybody. This just came out of left field.”
Sophomore quarterback Joshua Rainey defended the team in an angry tweet that included an expletive and a misspelling.
“EVERBODY WHO IS BLAMING THE FOOTBALL PLAYERS S-- & MIND YOUR BUISNESS !!” he wrote.
“It’s obviously a very disturbing . . . event,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Friday.
Friday night’s football game was moved to Monday, when Tottenville will play Curtis High. No fans will be allowed to attend.
“They want the game to be more subdued,” DOE spokeswoman Margie Feinberg said.
A memorial for suicide victim Felicia Garcia at the Tottenville Train Station.
Sara Brager, a 16-year-old junior, said she was on the platform when Felicia handed her cell phone to a pal, walked to the edge of the platform, then fell backward into the path of an oncoming train. She said she is haunted by Felicia’s final words.
“Just before she fell, she said, ‘Finally, it’s here,’” said Brager. “It was the most horrible thing I've ever seen.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/15-year-old-throws-front-train-staten-island-article-1.1191808
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