Fast Food Manager Charged with Involuntary Manslaughter Over Bullied Teen Worker Who Killed Himself

 

Ummmm...I feel bad for the family and never want to see something like this happen, but doing this I'm just not so sure about and think it might be setting a bad precedent.

 

 

"A former Dairy Queen manager has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, accused of bullying a high school worker who committed suicide just days before Christmas, authorities said.

 

Harley Branham, 21, made her first court appearance Tuesday in connection with the death of Kenny Suttner, 17, who shot himself outside his family’s home on December 21 in Glasgow, Mo.

 

She did not enter a plea, and was released on $25,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May. Her attorney, Jeff Hillbrenner, said his client feels bad about Suttner’s death, The Associated Press reported.

 

The boy’s family released a statement Tuesday saying, “It is long overdue that the issue of bullying be brought to light.”

 

On January 31, a six-person coroner’s jury found Branham was the principal cause of the teen’s suicide. She was charged the next day with second-degree involuntary manslaughter.

 

Several co-workers testified Branham had treated Suttner badly and forced him to perform demeaning tasks such as cleaning the floor while lying on his stomach, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune.

 

She once threw a cheeseburger at him because he made it incorrectly, according to testimony.

 

During the inquest, Branham told jurors, "There’s a lot of people at Dairy Queen saying I was the reason [he killed himself], but I don’t understand why it would be that way."

 

She denied bullying the boy.

 

Fellow students tearfully testified that the senior was continually bullied and taunted on campus by kids who made fun of the way he looked, talked and walked.

 

Best friend Lexie Graves testified Branham was ridiculed for “basically everything about him,” including a speech impediment and his weight. She said he reported the abuse once, but nothing was done.

 

School district officials testified they were not aware of any bullying. No district employees have been charged.

 

Howard County Coroner Frank Flaspohler said his inquest was based on his conclusion that "bullying was going on and things weren’t getting corrected," the paper reported.

 

The teen wrote several suicide letters before sitting down on a log outside his rural home and shooting himself in the head, authorities said".

I do not know much about being a coroner, but I didn't realize they had that much latitude in determining a cause of death.

Bullying is bad, and this manager sounds like she treated him horribly from her position of authority which is unacceptable. However, if the manager is accused of manslaughter why aren't the ones who witnessed and apparently did nothing not accomplices? Why are the ones who taunted him in high school not under investigation?

 

If one wants to make a statement, then lock them all up.

Manager was a piece of crud to put it mildly for sure assuming it went down as described.

I do not know much about being a coroner, but I didn't realize they had that much latitude in determining a cause of death.

 

In Kentucky, they're the highest ranking officer in each county

This is VERY slippery slope IMO. So if someone says something mean to someone else and they kill themselves, they can be charged with manslaughter? Seems like a stretch to me. This guy who killed himself obviously had issues. The lady being charged may be a total tool but why is she being singled out? It seems like a LOT of other people were making fun of the guy.

 

And since when are coroners psychiatrists? I thought they decided how someone dies, which in this case is from a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. I have never heard of a coroner opining on WHY someone shot either himself or someone else.

In Kentucky, they're the highest ranking officer in each county

 

And some of them really act the part too.

Manager sounds like a tool, but I think this is an overreach.

Manager sounds like a tool, but I think this is an overreach.

 

I agree on the overeach. Tool is an understatement, I'd beat him or her senseless if that was my child