Police rule out bullying in girl's suicide
Despite initial reports that bullying caused a 10-year-old Columbus County girl to kill herself in November, police said Wednesday that they found no link between teasing at school and the girl's death.
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Jasmine McClain hanged herself with a belt in her bedroom on Nov. 14.
After her death, police investigated social media posts that suggested Jasmine had been repeatedly bullied at Chadbourn Elementary School.
Her mother, Samantha West, said she knew children teased her daughter about her clothes, her shoes and her hair. Jasmine didn't like going to the school because of it, West said.
Chadbourn Police Chief Steven Shaw said an investigation determined that students picked on Jasmine at school but not enough to push her to suicide.
School officials also investigated the bullying allegations.
State lawmakers passed two anti-bullying laws in 2009. One made online bullying of children a misdemeanor, while the other required school districts to adopt policies to prohibit bullying without specifying the punishment for violators.
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