Arkansas: wrongful death/ criminal negligence/ hate crime?

[thomas bevington]

my son committed suicide last December. the 3 room mates that live in the same house as my son had been terrorizing and assaulting him for several weeks up until he died 12/13/18. the tormentors/ abusers would often say things to my son with reference to his being bisexual they said things like 'why don't you just kill yourself F-N expletive referring to him being bisexual' they also would threaten him with violence and say to him 'when you leave for work were going to trash your room and take what we want' there was always drinking and illegal drug use at the house and the room mates would take advantage of my son 'borrow money and never pay it back' among other things. To be clear I know my son had been depressed and at times thought about suicide but when we talked about iy last summer he promised that he wouldn't ever do that and he would live for his sister and myself. the police are waiting for a toxicology report before they can close or further investigate. the day before he died he had been drinking heavily along with the other room mates and friends that would come over. My son had been secretly video recording the threats of violence and he had also been looking/ asking his friends on facebook as well as posting to craigslist to find a safe place to stay. he also knew that me and my girlfriend would be coming to live there with him in january. I have screen shots of conversations he had telling his friends what was happening to him i also have videos he took with his phone. everything that i have gathered from the day that i found out about his death until now Ive sent to the detective working the case. to basically break it down this what happened 1 the room mates knew he thought about suicide. 2 they knew he was bisexual and they would bash/ bully him 3 they had physically and psychologically abused him. 4 he was the only one working and they took advantage of him. 5 they made his life hell to the point he was trying to find another plac e to liv e. 6 they all had been drinking and they knew he had taken pills 3 bottles i was told and a couple people had seen several pills in his vomit. the question of what should we do call 911? had been said by one of them and a response of its not our problem and he would be upset to have a emergency room bill. nobody called 911 or let anybody else police, or others that would intervene and get him help /take him to the hospital. they all knew what he was attempting while he was drunk and had been for several weeks terrorized and bullied by them and they thought him less of a person or not worthy of life. they let him die and two days later called police after he had been dead for 2 days alone in his room. the police said that because he hadn't called and pressed charge's or got a restraining order that nothing could be done. The way I see it is for one this has to be a hate crime and terrorist threatening as well as negligence and murder because they bullied and physically abused him . he wou ldn't have done this if they had left him alone. this happened in Arkansas. is there a crime in this tragedy?

 

[Just Blue]

my son committed suicide last December. the 3 room mates that live in the same house as my son had been terrorizing and assaulting him for several weeks up until he died 12/13/18. the tormentors/ abusers would often say things to my son with reference to his being bisexual they said things like 'why don't you just kill yourself F-N expletive referring to him being bisexual' they also would threaten him with violence and say to him 'when you leave for work were going to trash your room and take what we want' there was always drinking and illegal drug use at the house and the room mates would take advantage of my son 'borrow money and never pay it back' among other things. To be clear I know my son had been depressed and at times thought about suicide but when we talked about iy last summer he promised that he wouldn't ever do that and he would live for his sister and myself. the police are waiting for a toxicology report before they can close or further investigate. the day before he died he had been drinking heavily along with the other room mates and friends that would come over. My son had been secretly video recording the threats of violence and he had also been looking/ asking his friends on facebook as well as posting to craigslist to find a safe place to stay. he also knew that me and my girlfriend would be coming to live there with him in january. I have screen shots of conversations he had telling his friends what was happening to him i also have videos he took with his phone. everything that i have gathered from the day that i found out about his death until now Ive sent to the detective working the case. to basically break it down this what happened 1 the room mates knew he thought about suicide. 2 they knew he was bisexual and they would bash/ bully him 3 they had physically and psychologically abused him. 4 he was the only one working and they took advantage of him. 5 they made his life hell to the point he was trying to find another plac e to liv e. 6 they all had been drinking and they knew he had taken pills 3 bottles i was told and a couple people had seen several pills in his vomit. the question of what should we do call 911? had been said by one of them and a response of its not our problem and he would be upset to have a emergency room bill. nobody called 911 or let anybody else police, or others that would intervene and get him help /take him to the hospital. they all knew what he was attempting while he was drunk and had been for several weeks terrorized and bullied by them and they thought him less of a person or not worthy of life. they let him die and two days later called police after he had been dead for 2 days alone in his room. the police said that because he hadn't called and pressed charge's or got a restraining order that nothing could be done. The way I see it is for one this has to be a hate crime and terrorist threatening as well as negligence and murder because they bullied and physically abused him . he wou ldn't have done this if they had left him alone. this happened in Arkansas. is there a crime in this tragedy?

I don't have an answer to your question...I just wanted to express my deepest condolences. I have two children of my own and can only imagine the pain you must be going through...

God Bless
Blue

 

[justalayman]

A very sad situation indeed.

Based on what you’ve posted, there could be crimes involved but given the fact there is generally no duty to aid an injured person (you didn’t provide the state and that might make a difference but I suspect probably not), failure to call for medical aid itself probably isn’t one of them. If they actively dissuaded others from calling, that may be the basis of a crime. Do you recall the situation in Florida where several teens watched, and even taunted, as another young man drowned? No charges we filed because there is no duty to render aid to another person in general.

Regardless of whether there was a crime, if the DA does not file charges, there is little you can do to demand they be held criminally accountable.

You may speak with an attorney concerning a civil suit. I would suspect something of that nature may be more likely to be successful. You should sit down with an atttorney in the state this happened within and talk about whether there are any actions possible.

 

[stealth2]

Arkansas, jal.

 

[justalayman]

Thanks. I did miss that

 

[justalayman]

Thanks. I did miss that

Well, I overlooked it. I know I read it but apparently ignored it.

 

[commentator]

"he wou ldn't have done this if they had left him alone."

My deepest condolences on the loss of your son. However, unless the DA feels that the above is provable, I'd think the best that they might come up with is that they failed to render aid and as it has been pointed out, this isn't generally considered a crime. I am wondering what exactly the situation was as far as why he didn't simply get away from these people? Was your son the lease holder here, and why did you say you and your girlfriend were coming to live with him in January?

While your son may have assured you he would not commit suicide, that he would live for you and his sister, that sort of talk is what would have had a mandated reporter of any kind pretty much forced to respond. From a distance, from the sound of it, your son was tremendously in need of mental health care for depression and or for addiction/alcohol treatment. While I know that sort of help is very difficult to obtain, expecially in small places in third world states, this whole situation, in hindsight demands the question what was he doing there so long?

Of course it is too easy to look back and see things. And it might have been better if he could have gotten out, gotten help to deal with what had from the sound of it, been going on a long time, regardless of what he had promised. You keep mentioning that your son was bi-sexual. Had he ever gotten any counseling or assistance with dealing with his choices?

That he, as an adult made the choices he made, such as living with these people who bullied him, treated him so badly, that he was being taken advantage of, paying for everything since he was the only one working, regularly drinking and such with these people who had burned him many times and stolen from him and abused him......It will be very non functional for you going forward to try to totally fix the blame for this whole terrible thing on "those roommates."

This is a tragedy, and I know you are staggering. Please seek counseling for yourself to help you deal with things, whatever the authorities decide to do. There is rarely enough retribution available from the justice system in this type of situation to provide much ease and comfort. Please seek help to cope with the terrible pain of trying to deal with this situation as a whole.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

I can't imagine that there is not an investigation of the death taking place given the whole 2 days dead in his room thing.

You should contact the authorities that are doing this investigation. My bet would be the Carroll County Sheriffs office at their non-emergency (not 911)number.

EDIT: County name added.

 

[justalayman]

I could find no law obligating a person in general to report an attempted suicide. The only law I could find obligating a person to render aid (speaking of the general public) would be one within the transportation laws. A person causing an accident is obligated to render assistance but that is due to the fact they caused the situation. I found no similar law demanding a member of the public in general to stop to render aid in an accident situation.

This is pretty typical in most states.

As long as they didn’t disturb the body I’ve found nothing illegal in not reporting the death


So, from what I’ve found (or not found actuslly) I don’t see a crime here. Again, possibly a civil action but no criminal actions I’ve found

 

[not2cleverRed]

I could find no law obligating a person in general to report an attempted suicide. The only law I could find obligating a person to render aid (speaking of the general public) would be one within the transportation laws. A person causing an accident is obligated to render assistance but that is due to the fact they caused the situation. I found no similar law demanding a member of the public in general to stop to render aid in an accident situation.

This is pretty typical in most states.

As long as they didn’t disturb the body I’ve found nothing illegal in not reporting the death


So, from what I’ve found (or not found actuslly) I don’t see a crime here. Again, possibly a civil action but no criminal actions I’ve found

And, to reiterate what you've previously stated: even if there were a criminal action, it is the purview of the DA, not a private citizen (Dad) to determine whether to prosecute the roommates.

Dad could pursue civil actions on behalf of his son's estate. For example, if there is documentation that the son was owed money by these roommates, Dad, on behalf of the son's estate, could pursue that in small claims. The roommates sound like deadbeats, so it's not like they'd actually pay up, but it could inconvenience them.

Dad should also make sure that the deadbeat roommates haven't pawned anything that provably belonged to his son.

 

[quincy]

It can be illegal to not report a death.

https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/2017/title-12/subtitle-2/chapter-12/subchapter-3/section-12-12-315/

I am sorry for the loss of your son.

 

[justalayman]

It can be illegal to not report a death.

https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/2017/title-12/subtitle-2/chapter-12/subchapter-3/section-12-12-315/

I am sorry for the loss of your son.

I saw that and missed the part about “anybody”

But the fact is, they did report it although a couple of days later.

 

[quincy]

I saw that and missed the part about “anybody”

But the fact is, they did report it although a couple of days later.

I would think that waiting a couple of days to report the death of someone in your residence would be a violation of the law.

 

[not2cleverRed]

I would think that waiting a couple of days to report the death of someone in your residence would be a violation of the law.

I also have to wonder what else is going on if a group of people are tolerating a dead body in the house for a couple of days. Maybe they needed to get rid of their illegal drugs first?

 

[quincy]

I also have to wonder what else is going on if a group of people are tolerating a dead body in the house for a couple of days. Maybe they needed to get rid of their illegal drugs first?

That would be my first thought.