Parents of 10-Year-Old Deceased Greenfield Boy Sue School for Wrongful Death
Source: WISH-TV
GREENFIELD, Ind.–The parents of Sammy Teusch, a 10-year-old fourth grader who died by suicide in Greenfield back on May 5, 2024, filed a wrongful death suit in Hancock County Circuit Court Tuesday.
In a court filing, Sam and Nicole Teusch described how their son went through “abuse, assault, and terror” at the hands of bullies inside the Greenfield-Central Community School Corporation. They also accuse the school district of failing to protect their son.
“Sammy’s abusers urged him to hang himself; they chased him, stalked him, punched him, choked him – all while school officials for months callously dismissed and disregarded Sammy’s pleas for protection,” said Brian Grossman, co-counsel for the Teusch family. “This suit is about more than holding the Greenfield School Corporation accountable, it’s about making sure no child ever experiences what Sammy experienced – and no family again experiences the heartbreak the Teusch family can now never escape.”
The family says this lawsuit has arisen because of the “callous indifference exhibited by the District and its employees Bronson Curtis, Patrick Crouch, Kimberly Hunt, Kim Distel, and Sara Seelman.”
“As a direct and proximate result of the District’s and these individuals’ gross dereliction of arguably their most important duty, Sammy took his own life,” the lawsuit states.
The Teusches did credit the Greenfield community as a whole for being supportive and showing concern.
“What we’re doing, with this legal action, is coming from a place of love and protection for all of our kids, because they should all be able to go to school and learn in a safe environment,” said Sam Teusch. “No parent should have to sit at work and worry if their child is being bullied – or as in Sammy’s case, abused and assaulted – while they are in school all day. And no parent should ever have to find their child like Nicci and I did.”
The parents also described the abuse at length saying that one student choked Sammy until he “saw stars” and another hit hm so hard in the head with an iPad that it broke his glasses and left him with a black eye. His abusers would also make fun of his teeth and glasses, trapped him in a bathroom and threatened him, and one student even followed Sammy around and told him to kill himself, the parents said.
The Teusches also said they filed 20 reports to teachers about the abuse and bullying.
Sammy and his family moved to Greenfield in November 2022 after living in Florida and Wisconsin. The Teusches said Sammy never had problems at his former schools and was always considered to be a well-behaved child with no discipline or emotional problems.
“Sammy was smart, funny, quick to make friends, knew no strangers, meant no harm to anyone, and had the biggest heart along with the best smile,” said Sam Teusch. “And it seems that made him an easy target and easy for school officials to dismiss and disregard him – and we can’t let the world be like that.”
The Teusch’s suit also requests a jury trial.
