Tyler Clementi
Eighteen year old Tyler's story is a little different from most cases of bullycide in that he wasn't bullied over a period of time and that his was a case of humiliation rather than torment.
It is difficult to determine the true facts surrounding his death and the events leading up to it as much of the case has been misrepresented and glorified by the media. Conflicting stories and accusations of evidence tampering has made this case particularly difficult to understand. Some reports state that Tyler was still in the proverbial "closet" while others state that he wasn't. In truth, some people knew and some people didn't. Tyler told his parents that he was gay before leaving home to start his Freshman year at Rutgers University in new Jersey. His Father was overwhelmingly supportive, and although his Mother did finally come to accept the fact, it took her a little while to come to terms with it. One person who Tyler hadn't told about his sexuality was his dorm mate at University, Dharun Ravi.
On the nights of September 19th and 21st, 2010, Tyler asked if he could use their room for those evenings. On the first occasion, Dharun met Tyler's male friend, and Tyler said that the two wanted to be alone for the evening. What Tyler didn't know was that Dharun had a webcam on his computer and could access it from any other PC or laptop. In fact, Dharun did access it from a friends computer from a nearby dorm room. Dharun and his friend, Molly Wei watched a romantic encounter unfold between Tyler and his male visitor. They watched the two men kiss before closing the webcam. A little while later, Molly Wei turned the camera back on for a second viewing with four other people who were now in her dorm room. During this second viewing, Tyler and his guest were still kissing and partially undressed.
On September 20, Tyler, who followed Dharun's Twitter account, read a message that Dharun sent a few minutes after the webcam viewing the previous day. Dharun wrote: "Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay." According to a Rutgers employee, at about 4 a.m. on September 21, Tyler sent an online request for a single room because his "roommate used webcam to spy on me."
On September 21, Dharun posted text messages saying that there would be a viewing party to watch Tyler and his guest, along with directions on how to view it remotely. At 6:39 p.m., Dharun tweeted, "Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes, it's happening again."
Dharun had set up the webcam and pointed it towards Tyler's bed. When Tyler returned to his room, he noticed the camera and sent a text message to a friend saying he had unplugged Dharun's powerstrip to prevent further video streaming during his date. Dharun would later state that he had changed his mind regarding the broadcast and disabled the camera himself by putting the computer in sleep mode.
The same day, Tyler complained to a resident assistant and two other officials that Dharun had used a webcam to videostream part of Tyler's private sexual encounter with another man. The resident assistant testified at trial that Tyler appeared shaky and uncomfortable when they met around 11 p.m., and in his official report of the meeting, the resident assistant said that Tyler requested both a room change and punishment for Dharun. In a formal e-mail request to the resident assistant made after the meeting, Tyler described the two viewing incidents, quoted from Dharun's Twitter postings, and wrote "I feel that my privacy has been violated and I am extremely uncomfortable sharing a room with someone who would act in this wildly inappropriate manner." Tyler wrote in detail on Yahoo message boards about complaints he filed through university channels about his roommate. His posts indicated that he did not want to share a room with Dharun after he learned about the first incident and then discovered that Dharun invited his Twitter followers to watch a second sexual encounter.
On the evening of September 22nd, Tyler left the dorm room, got food, and, around 6:30 p.m., headed toward the George Washington Bridge. By 8:42 p.m., Tyler posted from his cell phone on Facebook, "Jumping off the GW Bridge. Sorry." Police recovered his body a week later from the Hudson River.
It is difficult to determine the true facts surrounding his death and the events leading up to it as much of the case has been misrepresented and glorified by the media. Conflicting stories and accusations of evidence tampering has made this case particularly difficult to understand. Some reports state that Tyler was still in the proverbial "closet" while others state that he wasn't. In truth, some people knew and some people didn't. Tyler told his parents that he was gay before leaving home to start his Freshman year at Rutgers University in new Jersey. His Father was overwhelmingly supportive, and although his Mother did finally come to accept the fact, it took her a little while to come to terms with it. One person who Tyler hadn't told about his sexuality was his dorm mate at University, Dharun Ravi.
On the nights of September 19th and 21st, 2010, Tyler asked if he could use their room for those evenings. On the first occasion, Dharun met Tyler's male friend, and Tyler said that the two wanted to be alone for the evening. What Tyler didn't know was that Dharun had a webcam on his computer and could access it from any other PC or laptop. In fact, Dharun did access it from a friends computer from a nearby dorm room. Dharun and his friend, Molly Wei watched a romantic encounter unfold between Tyler and his male visitor. They watched the two men kiss before closing the webcam. A little while later, Molly Wei turned the camera back on for a second viewing with four other people who were now in her dorm room. During this second viewing, Tyler and his guest were still kissing and partially undressed.
On September 20, Tyler, who followed Dharun's Twitter account, read a message that Dharun sent a few minutes after the webcam viewing the previous day. Dharun wrote: "Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay." According to a Rutgers employee, at about 4 a.m. on September 21, Tyler sent an online request for a single room because his "roommate used webcam to spy on me."
On September 21, Dharun posted text messages saying that there would be a viewing party to watch Tyler and his guest, along with directions on how to view it remotely. At 6:39 p.m., Dharun tweeted, "Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes, it's happening again."
Dharun had set up the webcam and pointed it towards Tyler's bed. When Tyler returned to his room, he noticed the camera and sent a text message to a friend saying he had unplugged Dharun's powerstrip to prevent further video streaming during his date. Dharun would later state that he had changed his mind regarding the broadcast and disabled the camera himself by putting the computer in sleep mode.
The same day, Tyler complained to a resident assistant and two other officials that Dharun had used a webcam to videostream part of Tyler's private sexual encounter with another man. The resident assistant testified at trial that Tyler appeared shaky and uncomfortable when they met around 11 p.m., and in his official report of the meeting, the resident assistant said that Tyler requested both a room change and punishment for Dharun. In a formal e-mail request to the resident assistant made after the meeting, Tyler described the two viewing incidents, quoted from Dharun's Twitter postings, and wrote "I feel that my privacy has been violated and I am extremely uncomfortable sharing a room with someone who would act in this wildly inappropriate manner." Tyler wrote in detail on Yahoo message boards about complaints he filed through university channels about his roommate. His posts indicated that he did not want to share a room with Dharun after he learned about the first incident and then discovered that Dharun invited his Twitter followers to watch a second sexual encounter.
On the evening of September 22nd, Tyler left the dorm room, got food, and, around 6:30 p.m., headed toward the George Washington Bridge. By 8:42 p.m., Tyler posted from his cell phone on Facebook, "Jumping off the GW Bridge. Sorry." Police recovered his body a week later from the Hudson River.