Izabel Laxamana Suicide: Girl, 13, Jumps Off Bridge After Father Cuts Off Her Hair For Public Shaming Video

bluntforcemomma:

smidgetz:

surra-de-bunda:

A beautiful 13-year-old girl with long and flowing black hair was
publicly shamed by her father for an unknown offense. The father decided
that a proper punishment for the offense would be to chop off her
gorgeous black hair and post the video online. In the video it shows the
girl with her newly chopped off hair as she stands next to a pile of
her beautiful black locks on the floor. However, the public humiliation
and punishment apparently took an emotional toll on the child, who
jumped off a bridge onto a busy interstate just days after the video was
uploaded online. Izabel Laxamana, who attended Giaudrone Middle School
in Tacoma, Washington, exited the passenger’s seat of her grandmother’s
vehicle, climbed over the bridge railing, and jumped “without
hesitation” from the bridge before landing on a car below. The young
girl had committed suicide.

The News Tribune
reports that a girl “jumped or fell” off the bridge at around 5 p.m. on
Friday and died in the hospital on Saturday. Since the incident,
friends and parents that knew the young girl have taken to social media
to express their disbelief and sadness over the passing of Izabel, who
many just call “Izzy”.

In addition to expressing grief, others are expressing anger at the “abuse” that Izzy suffered at the hands of her father. A parent who was assisting in Izabel’s science class noted that the girl was crying and that had she known what the student had been through she would have called the police.

“We all got the word at the bridge. Lots of Sobbing and hugging going
around. I am glad I was there with my daughter to support her and her
feelings through this. If I had know what izzy was crying about in
science class when I was there, I would of taken her home with me and
called police.”

The “public shaming” that many reference in their outpouring of support
of Izzy’s plight occurred via Instagram. The girl’s father can be seen
videoing the teen as she stands next to a pile of black hair on the
floor. The girl’s story can be read at Tacoma Stories and details of exactly what is happening in the video is described below.

“A few days ago a 15 second video showed up online. It showed a young
girl who appeared to be twelve or thirteen years old. She’s standing in a
room looking at the phone camera. She appears to be afraid. The camera
then shows the floor where there is a pile of long black hair. A
taunting male voice says, ‘The consequences of getting messed up? Man,
you lost all that beautiful hair. Was it worth it?’ The girl stares at
her hair on the floor. She very quietly says, ‘No.’ ‘How many times did I
warn you?’ She almost inaudibly says, ‘Twice.’ He then says, ‘Okay.’ as
if he has proved a point. The video ends.

Rumors are running high in the school, with some saying that the public
shaming video of Izzy’s haircut was not the only action taken against
the girl that day. A parent who says their child was a “close friend” of
Izabel claims that she saw the horrifying video before it was taken
down and that the father also “cut her undergarments” and “destroyed her
clothing.”

“Since Friday my 14 year old a close friend of this young girls, began
to tell me this story. Saturday saw a link of the video, had been crying
and very sad explaining to me that she was told the father not only cut
her hair, posted a video, but also had cut her undergarments, destroyed
her clothing and yes publicly humiliated her. I watched that video and I
was so crushed, the anger in the father’s voice I could hear it, the
girls shoulders slightly rolled forward in shame, hands in front if her, showed she was not only shamed by this horrible man, but she
looked very frightened. I am a very proud mother of a Giudrone Middle
School child, and hearing that a female child was degraded to a point so
bad rips my entire soul out.”
Still, others say there was “continuous” abuse by her father that was never addressed.
Though the details surrounding the events that lead to the unfortunate
death of this beautiful girl are unknown, witnesses claim that the girl
did in fact jump on her own free will and did so “without hesitation.”
“From the boys who actually witnessed it, said she just ran, jumped up
on the fencing and leaped over. No hesitation. just did it.”

This is why I hate public shaming of children, shit is abusive and traumatic, I hope her father feels pain until he dies,

From the Inquisitr:

Since the story was posted, a number of comments have been made regarding the incident with students at the school, noting that the day of Lizzy’s suicide, she was humiliated at school by the principal.

“After he cut off her hair he burned her clothes and smashed her guitar. He made her go to school the next day and in front of the entire school, dressed in boys clothes, at what should have been a happy day for her. He had the principal announce during the assembly that she had to withdraw from running for student council president because she disobeyed her father. She should have been giving her speech on why she should be president. She was crying and asked him to stop and was told to wait in the hallway.”

Another student’s parent notes that Izabel was forced to drop out of the running for student body president the day of the suicide and was crying in the hall during the announcement.

“There’s more to this story. I talked to her teacher. She was shamed in front of her peers by the principal and forced to withdraw her running for ASB Student Body President. She begged him to stop and he said wait in the hallway … She was getting bullied by family, peers, and administrator[s] at school. No wonder she saw no way out.”

So not only did the administration at her school fail to recognize that this girl was being abused, but they were also complicit in the abuse.

Someone needs to film the father in grief while forcefully asking him “WAS IT WORTH IT?”