It all happened this week. Bill Clinton cleared Hillary of any wrong doing, the Naperville Police Department cleared Naperville North High School police officer of any wrong doing, and OJ Simpson cleared his reputation by getting paroled. Just keep moving folks, there’s nothing to see here. If Clinton, the NPD, and OJ said it, it must be true.
As much as Naperville city officials want to say it’s over, it’s far from over. ‘It’ being the lawsuit resulting from the suicide of 16-year old, Naperville North student, Corey Walgren. There are so many terrible facets to this story, that it has caught the attention of a country-wide audience from ‘fair and balanced’ Fox News to ‘fake news’ CNN. This is one story that both Fox and CNN can agree.
Watchdog first posted the story June 4 (From Bad, To Worse, To Tragic), with a follow-up posting June 17 calling for Naperville Police Chief Bob Marshall to resign(Sometimes It’s Time To Go, Now is the Time). This past week, there was a tragic shooting in Minneapolis by a police officer, when he killed an Australian woman who had called 911 to report an assault. Within a few days the police chief resigned.
In a nutshell, young Corey Walgren meet with a high school dean of students, and high school police officer to discuss a potential serious situation. He was left alone for a brief period of time, and it was during that time that Corey left the high school, walked to downtown Naperville and took his own life by jumping from the fifth floor of a parking garage.
Now the story has gone from tragic to disgusting. Just this last Wednesday (July 19) word came out that the Naperville Police Department completed an internal investigation as did Naperville School District 203 clearing both the police officer and dean of any wrong doing, based on the ‘fact’ that both were following established rules.
That’s it. Over with. Both the NPD and District 203 absolved of any responsibility. This posting has chosen not to include the names of the police officer and high school dean, not because the names are not out in public, but because both have been through enough already. They are good people, they didn’t intend for this to happen. This is tragic for them, along with every person touched by this situation.
For the bureaucratic City of Naperville, school district, and police department, to wash their hands of any responsibility is outrageous. If ‘rules and policies’ were followed, then the rules and policies are horribly flawed and the City, school district, and NPD need to be held accountable, not the individuals following the flawed policy.
A good kid is dead. 16-years old, that’s two times an 8-year old. The NPD said the kid was never in custody, so he could have left the ‘meeting’. That’s supposed absolve them of any responsibility. Do they really think Corey knew he had that option, of course not. I’m in my 7th decade of life and I didn’t know that was an option. And if Corey knew it, or I knew it, neither of us would have abruptly walked out of the ‘meeting’, because it would have been disrespectful to the officer and the dean.
All the people involved in this tragic story are ‘losers’, they have all lost something, some far more than others, while the bureaucratic monolithic structures (City of Naperville and School District) consider themselves just like O.J. with no accountability and no responsibility.
They will settle out of court as they always do with of course our money and a non-disclosure clause so none of us know the details or what it cost us. Meanwhile no one will be held accountable and nothing will change.
The proper and appropriate thing to have done was to call the parents in, discuss the situation with them and then bring in the policeman to tell all of them the potential crime and what could happen.
BTW 16 is old enough to know what one is doing and to take responsibility for ones actions. There had to be a lot more going on with this kid then just this incident for him to commit suicide.
This will settle out of court only if the parents want it to, which means if they because convinced that a trail would change nothing that is not already being changed or that the frame of mind that lead this student to commit suicide involved more than just having a meeting with a police officer and a school official (i,e. other thing happening in this 16 years old’s life that had already lead him to think about suicide). Also remember there is the issue of his victim. A trial could shine a light on what she has gone through and will have to live with, which could taint public opinion and sympathy for this family and their lose; making what the police officer and school official did look justified.
I’m disturbed by the assumptions that are being made about the victim, the families involved and the rational about why this happened and especially why he would take his life. Let’s stick with the facts. Imagine you are a young boy who is being told by an intimidating police officer that you are a sex offender and will be registered your whole life. Crushing. Now let’s also mention something being ignored. If you are a parent of teenage kids, you know that most of these kids are already engaging in sexual activity. And unfortunately, there is alot of things going on thanks to Hollywood education and the internet. But, doesn’t that mean that ALL these minors are sex offenders? Talk to any school nurse or psychologist and they will share that sexual promiscuity, cruelty and meanness is saturating our culture today and is present in every school in this country. Let’s be honest. The fact is that these parents were not given the opportunity to protect their child when he needed an advocate and that is wrong. Our role as parents is to teach our children and guide them when they make mistakes. These parents were purposely prevented from being with their child and as a result of intimidation and threats, their son, in distress took his own life. And this family is forever fractured. This is every parents nightmare. We are all human and I can’t think of one person who is perfect and doesn’t make mistakes. The real test is how does a person handle these moments and how do others treat them. If the person is a minor they are entitled to having their Guardians there to teach them and provide support, that is a basic right. Everything is wrong with the tragic death of this young man.
Interesting you complaining and belittling people about making assumptions and insisting on sticking to the facts when your whole post is riddled with assumption and few facts. The only fact, actually mentioned in your post, is that this young man’s parents were not called in. All the rest is speculation and assumption. And one significant fact is missing, this young man was never under arrest. If he had been he would not have been able to leave the office he was in.
As I have stated before smartphones are easily abused. Before any parent gives one to their child it is their responsibility to make sure they know how to use it responsible and legally (we insist they do it with cars and guns). If you do not want to do this then give them a cellphone with texting blocked (no internet access). I know of several parents that were concerned about how young people use smartphones but wanted the safety and connectivity a phone provides so they opted for the “phone calls” only cellphone.
Jim, my intent wasn’t to belittle anyone or make assumptions Many parents today feel there are other organizations that believe that they should parent our kids and tell them what to think. And I acknowledge that there are probably many parents who don’t agree with this. And perhaps there are families who haven’t had to experience bullying and other harmful issues. But after 20 years in the school system my experience shows that this is far too common. I wanted to stress that a parents right should never be compromised. But of course, that is my belief and everyone is entitled to their own opinion as a parent.
Bullying? Are you saying what this school official and police officer did was bullying? Are you saying that school officials do not have a duty to take action to correct this kind of behavior in students? Presently there are over 4,000 prisoners under the age of 16 in US prisons. At what age a Minor should be treated as an adult is a touchy subject. Based on prison stats it happens to minorities with far greater regularity then Caucasians.
It is clearly far more acceptable in the US to get “tough” on minorities youths then it is caucasian youths. No one has ever describe this kind of treatment of minority youths as bullying, why do so when it is a caucasian youth? At what point does society decide a youth’s parents have failed in raising their child and society must take over? What actions on the part of a youth shows a failure in parenting that justifies, not just compromising but nullifying parental rights? You say never, but the US court system has ruled otherwise in the cases of over 40,000 youths presently being detained in prisons and juvenile detention facilities in this country and millions of time over the last 100 years. It is one of the great hypocrisies of our society that youths be treated a children until they turn 18 and then “puff” magically they are adults facing adult repercussions for actions that just a few months before they were protect for facing the consequences of because they were still consider a child protected by parental rights.
Parents don’t just have rights, they have responsibilities and the consequence of failing at those responsibilities is a loss of their parental rights. And as our court system has repeatedly ruled this does not just happen at age 18.
Jim, your reply is all over the board. I was not discussing race or these other topics you bring up. You can have this conversation, but I am not the one initiating it. Why don’t you consider running for office because you are so well informed? It would be a good idea for you to go to Council meetings as well, and let them know that you have a voice.