A Staten Island teenager died after being struck by a bus as she was carrying a suicide note on Monday night. Amanda Diane Cummings, 15, jumped out in front of a bus on Hylan Boulevard near Hunter Avenue. Cummings was taken to Staten Island University Hospital in critical condition before ultimately succumbing to her injuries.
Cummings was a sophomore at New Dorp High School, where she was being bullied by her classmates, according to her uncle, Keith Cummings. Keith said that bullies had stolen her phone, shoes, and jacket among doing other things. Keith also said that the bullies were posting inappropriate and cruel things on her Facebook wall while she was in the hospital.
Keith said that he will be pursuing legal action against the bullies, “I’m not going to tolerate this. I’m gonna go full force. Kids can’t do this to each other.”
Amanda has been described by her family as a kind teenager who had a love for animals and an affinity for poetry. A blog run by her family has been started in her honor.
Cyber bullying has become a major problem in the United States recently, as social networking sites have become areas for insults and taunts.
It was reported in 2010 that one out of five middle-school students claim that they were victims of cyber bullying. The majority of states have prevention ordinances in place for cyber bullying, though less than half of them provide guidance on how bullying on the internet and electronic devices should be handled.