INDIANAPOLIS – The parents of Sammy Teusch, a 10-year-old fourth-grader who was found dead by suicide in his bedroom on May 5, 2024, in Greenfield, Indiana, filed a wrongful death suit in Hancock County Circuit Court Tuesday.
Sam and Nicole Teusch describe in the legal filing the abuse, assault, and terror their young son went through at the hands of school bullies and how the school failed 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 suit charges the Greenfield-Central Community School Corporation and Greenfield-Central Community School Corporation Board of Trustees, citing Superintendent Dr. Harold Olin by name, among others:
This lawsuit arises out of the callous indifference exhibited by the District and its employees Bronson Curtis, Patrick Crouch, Kimberly Hunt, Kim Distel, and Sara Seelman, each of whom was repeatedly informed about the bullying of Sammy Teusch (“Sammy”) by students under the District’s supervision, and yet did nothing to address it. 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 Teusches said through the heartbreaking months since Sammy’s death, the Greenfield community at large has been concerned and supportive.
“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 filing describes months of abuse from a group of Sammy’s classmates, one choking him until he “saw stars” and another striking him in the head with an iPad that broke his glasses and left him with a black eye. In addition to his abusers calling him names and making fun of Sammy’s teeth and glasses, other incidents cited in the legal filing include a group of students trapping him in a bathroom and threatening him, chasing him through the school, and another who followed him around telling him to kill himself.
The Teusches reached out to school “personnel by phone and in person to report the bullying and beg for the protection and safety of their son Sammy. Approximately twenty reports were made by Sam and Nicci to Sammy’s aforementioned teachers, GIS principal Bronson Curtis, assistant principal Patrick Crouch, and school counselor Kimberly Hunt,” the filing cites.
Sammy moved to Greenfield in November 2022 after living in Florida and Wisconsin. The Teusches said their young son had no problems at his former schools and was considered a well-behaved child with no discipline or emotional problems.
Sammy liked the outdoors, particularly fishing, soccer, and hanging out with his family.
“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 requests a jury trial.
National figures from the U.S. Department of Education indicate that 25 percent of students are bullied with some regularity. According to the Megan Meier Foundation, children that have been bullied or cyberbullied are two times more likely to attempt suicide.
For a copy of the legal filing, click here.
