Two girls — one 14-year-old and one TWELVE-year-old — have just been arrested, and bullying and Facebook played a part in the charges.
Last month, a Winter Haven, FL 12-year-old named Rebecca Sedwick climbed a water tower at an abandoned concrete plant and jumped off, to her death. Sedwick had been bullied for a year by as many as 15 girls; a 14-year-old in particular repeatedly told her to “drink bleach and die” and kill herself.
The AP reports that the Polk County police department arrested the 14-year-old bully because they were worried she would continue cyberbullying other girls.
[Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd] said police arrested the 14-year-old girl after she posted Saturday on Facebook that she bullied Rebecca and she didn’t care.
“We decided that we can’t leave her out there. Who else is she going to torment, who else is she going to harass?” Judd said.
Police also arrested a 12-year-old girl who is accused of bullying Rebecca. Both have been charged with felony aggravated stalking.
To be clear: A month after this poor kid killed herself, the mean girl admitted to being cruel to her — on Facebook — and said she didn’t care. Beyond awful. The AP contacted the 14-year-old’s father, who said: “My daughter’s a good girl and I’m 100 percent sure that whatever they’re saying about my daughter is not true.” Cough.
Anyway, the two girls who were arrested have already been released and are on home detention; Judd is upset that they had access to social media after Rebecca’s suicide. It’s unclear whether or not they’re still allowed to use the internet. And the last line of this story is just chilling and fucked up:
Judd said the 14-year-old was “very cold, had no emotion at all upon her arrest.”
[AP]
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