An 8-year-old Cincinnati boy was knocked out by a school bully 2 days before he committed suicide. Gabe Taye was assaulted by a bully in the boy’s restroom at Carson Elementary School on Jan. 24.
Two days later, he took his own life.
Surveillance video shows Gabe entering the boy’s restroom while a bully was in the midst of assaulting another boy.
Gabe extended his hand to shake the bully’s hand when the boy grabbed his hand, pulled him to him and slammed Gabe into a wall, knocking him out.
Video footage shows Gabe laying motionless on the bathroom floor for over 7 minutes while his classmates stepped over him and several boys even kicked him.
Eventually, a school employee came to Gabe’s aid. The school nurse called his mother to come pick him up. Cornelia Reynolds said she was told her son had fainted. She said no one told her Gabe was knocked out for over 7 minutes.
Later that evening Gabe vomited twice — a sign of a possible brain injury. She took him to the hospital where a doctor diagnosed a stomach virus and sent him home.
On Jan. 26, Gabe came home from school, spoke to his mom and went to his bedroom. She later found him hanging by his necktie from his bunk bed.
Cincinnati Public School officials initially blamed Reynolds for not taking Gabe to the hospital on Jan. 24 — the day of the incident.
“On the eve of Mother’s Day, it is unfortunate that CPS chose to blame Gabe’s mother for not taking him to the hospital after he was injured at school,” attorney Carla Leader said in a statement. “No one from CPS told Gabe’s mother that she needed to take him to the hospital. The nurse’s notes verify this.
“It is helpful that CPS did not deny that Carson officials withheld this vital information from Gabe’s mother,” Leader said.
“In fact, if his mother had been told that Gabe was assaulted and was unconscious for over seven minutes on the bathroom floor, she would have taken him to the hospital and not let him return to Carson,” the attorney added.
The coroner ruled Gabe’s death a homicide, saying “It was very hard for me to believe that an 8-year-old would even know what it means to commit suicide.”
Police released the full video of Gabe’s assault on Friday after first blurring out the bullies faces.
