David Ritcheson (18) committed suicide by jumping from a cruise ship

[Bella22]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-02-cruise-ship-death_N.htm

HOUSTON (AP) — David Ritcheson hated being known as "that kid" — the teenager who was beaten unconscious and sodomized with a plastic pole during a party where one of his assailants shouted "White Power!"
Ritcheson didn't want to stand out from his classmates because of the assault, but he acknowledged in an interview that "it was just really hard to hold your head up, even to walk outside with everyone almost in the world knowing what happened."

That anguish may have contributed to his decision to leap Sunday from a cruise ship to his death in the Gulf of Mexico.

RIP David, I'm sorry for the anguish and pain you went through.

Speechless.............



http://mydeathspace.com/article/2007/07/17/David_Ritcheson_(18)_committed_suicide_by_jumping_ from_the_upper_deck_of_a_cruise_ship

[bowieluva]

Pssst Bella there are two threas already on this, I don't know if anyone has contacted a mod tho....

[nerysinci]

I read about this on CNN today. Poor kid. Did you SEE that fucking pole they sodomized him with? Incredible he even survived. But the emotional scarring must have just been too much. I hope those fuckers get raped in prison for the rest of their lives.

[Bella22]

[quote author=bowieluva link=topic=8548.msg443016#msg443016 date=1183441973]
Pssst Bella there are two threas already on this, I don't know if anyone has contacted a mod tho....
[/quote]

Damn it. Sorry. Hopefully it'll be merged.

[Olivia]

http://mydeathspace.com/article/2007/07/17/David_Ritcheson_(18)_committed_suicide_by_jumping_ from_the_upper_deck_of_a_cruise_ship

This would have to be one of the saddest deaths I have seen in awhile.  This poor kid killed himself after being the victim of a hate crime previously.

"It was a level of rage and fury that could prompt his attackers to drag the victim, a 16-year-old Hispanic youth, out of a party for the trivial offense of trying to kiss a 12-year-old girl, to strip him and beat him into submission, using steel-toed boots. They made deep slashes into his chest, investigators said. Then they drove a sharpened plastic PVC pipe into his anus so deep that his internal organs were damaged. And as the heartless attackers carried out this savagery, they spewed racial slurs"

[eggson]

So sad.  The detailed accounts on the myspace sites are shocking. 

Rest in Peace, lad.

[Ron_NYC]

Hey Olivia!  (Now it's an entry, I know....just being a smart ass)

David Ritcheson "that kid" who survived brutal race attack committed suicide

That attack though. Wow. I mean, just.....wow.
I can't believe people can do shit like this to each other.

[Olivia]

[quote author=Ron_NYC link=topic=8548.msg461309#msg461309 date=1184637096]
Hey Olivia!  (Now it's an entry, I know....just being a smart ass)

David Ritcheson "that kid" who survived brutal race attack committed suicide

That attack though. Wow. I mean, just.....wow.
I can't believe people can do shit like this to each other.
[/quote]

Thanks!

I honestly can't believe it.  Why didn't anyone else at the party do anything?  Call the cops??

[Ron_NYC]

[quote author=Olivia link=topic=8548.msg461315#msg461315 date=1184637582]
Thanks!

I honestly can't believe it.  Why didn't anyone else at the party do anything?  Call the cops??
[/quote]
I can't imagine having to have a 'catastrophe' bag after a beating!
I mean after colon cancer, or a car accident or something...sure. (It would suck, but at least it makes some sense! )

But after being assaulted by two people!?! People!! Not a car, or a disease!
That's just so disturbing.

[ZoMyGoddess!]

fucking disgusts me how some people can be sooo hateful and heartless.  WHY, WHY WHY would ANYONE get happiness from someone else's embarrassment, anguish and pain?? WHY would that be entertaining or funny???
My heart literally hurts from the sympathy David.

Im so sorry that people could be like this.
Truly Horrible.

If i was David's parents, I'd def be in jail for murder.  There would be NOTHING to stop me from KILLING this motherfuckers.  Nothing!!

[abbykatesmom]

I had not heard of this case until this was posted.  I am truly horrified by the lengths in which this young man suffered.  I thought that I had seen the worst but I was wrong.  I cant imagine the pain he felt and the humiliation he must have suffered is beyond my comprehension.  I can honestly say that I understand why he chose to end his life.  His family must be in agony.  To see your son through all of this pain and surgery and not knowing if he would survive only to have him end his life.  So incredibly sad.  

The first person that calls this kid "selfish" is getting smited every hour that I am physically awake!

RIP David (D Ritch)

I hope that you have found peace.


To the pieces of shit that did this to him.  I hope that you are repeatedly ass-raped on an hourly basis.  This is a case in which the death penalty is warranted and I don't care if you believe in it or not.  If this was my child, I would have killed them myself.

[Olivia]

The death penalty is too good for these little shits.  Unless they are burnt alive rather then being killed by lethal injection.

[woot]

Yeah, dunno how this sorta thing can happen really ;/ can't imagine girls or w/e from the party watching on as this guy being assaulted with pvc tubing whilst doing nothing to stop it.
Sick ppl tbh, heard this guy refused all councelling etc and basically never got any done. Oh well, bad decision I guess

Hey olive

[CheerfulPessimist]

This is sick. I know I'm going to sound like an echo, but really, how could anyone inflict such pain on another human being? I'm truly shocked he even survived. It saddens me that he ended his life - he seemed so inspirational.

RIP David. No one deserves this kind of treatment.

[idiomatic_german]

does anyone know what happened to the people who did this to him?

[Bella22]

[quote author=idiomatic_german link=topic=8548.msg461693#msg461693 date=1184657484]
does anyone know what happened to the people who did this to him?
[/quote]

They were jailed for life, no parole I think.

I hope they get poled in the ass in jail.

RIP David

[death roe]

I remember this story. I think we may have discussed the hate crime attack here before. This is so sad to hear David took his life. I can't imagine how much he was hurting inside. Too bad they can't go back and change the guys sentences to reflect death of their victim.

The 18 year old at the time got life, but the one who was only 17 at the time of the crime 'only' got 90 years. I guess that they couldn't really get more than that....they will both die in prison. Hope they don't live better inside than they did when they were out.

[Crazyfool]

This has got to be one of the saddest stories I've heard in a long, long time. 

Such a brutal attack would be hard to live with, especially when you have to look at a swastika shaped scar on your chest every day of your life as a constant reminder.

I bet he forgot all about it when he took that first step towards the deep blue sea. 

RIP David

[decorusnex]

I remember reading about his attack on CNN a while back and thought it was just horrible.  I am at a loss for how parents can allow their kids to grow up so heartless that they actually enjoy inflicting what they did to him. 

It is too tragic that he survived that but never recovered emotionally.    RIP David.

[Karalicious]

[quote author=nerysinci link=topic=8548.msg443018#msg443018 date=1183442035]
I read about this on CNN today. Poor kid. Did you SEE that fucking pole they sodomized him with? Incredible he even survived. But the emotional scarring must have just been too much. I hope those fuckers get raped in prison for the rest of their lives.
[/quote] No, where's a picture? Im a sick fuck like that. I wanna see the picture. lol

[sarabei]

[quote author=abbykatesmom link=topic=8548.msg461451#msg461451 date=1184642320]
I had not heard of this case until this was posted.  I am truly horrified by the lengths in which this young man suffered.  I thought that I had seen the worst but I was wrong.  I cant imagine the pain he felt and the humiliation he must have suffered is beyond my comprehension.  I can honestly say that I understand why he chose to end his life.  His family must be in agony.  To see your son through all of this pain and surgery and not knowing if he would survive only to have him end his life.  So incredibly sad.  

The first person that calls this kid "selfish" is getting smited every hour that I am physically awake!

RIP David (D Ritch)

I hope that you have found peace.


To the pieces of shit that did this to him.  I hope that you are repeatedly ass-raped on an hourly basis.  This is a case in which the death penalty is warranted and I don't care if you believe in it or not.  If this was my child, I would have killed them myself.
[/quote]

I just wish he could have gotten the emotional help he needed...he sounds like such a special young man....I hope he has found the peace he was denied this past year!

[CheerfulPessimist]

[quote author=sarabei link=topic=8548.msg461848#msg461848 date=1184686428]
I just wish he could have gotten the emotional help he needed...he sounds like such a special young man....I hope he has found the peace he was denied this past year!
[/quote]

Me too.

[bowieluva]

[quote author=sarabei link=topic=8548.msg461848#msg461848 date=1184686428]
I just wish he could have gotten the emotional help he needed...he sounds like such a special young man....I hope he has found the peace he was denied this past year!
[/quote]

I wonder if he even could have.  I thinkfor some people, you can't shake of the horrors of what you've experienced.  It's not like one day he was going to find a therapist or friend who would be all "Funny coincidence, I was also assaulted by nazi morons and sodomized with a poll."

The sad thing is, these kind of psychos will find gangs in prison they'll be heroes in.

[sarabei]

[quote author=bowieluva link=topic=8548.msg462038#msg462038 date=1184696500]
I wonder if he even could have.  I thinkfor some people, you can't shake of the horrors of what you've experienced.  It's not like one day he was going to find a therapist or friend who would be all "Funny coincidence, I was also assaulted by nazi morons and sodomized with a poll."

The sad thing is, these kind of psychos will find gangs in prison they'll be heroes in.
[/quote]

I think he would have been scarred always, physically and emotionally, but maybe with professional help he could have dealt with it and found a way to live with it.  I just can't imagine at his age...what he must have been going through...and I have to wonder that his friends didn't take him seriously or at least watch him a bit better!

[bowieluva]

[quote author=sarabei link=topic=8548.msg462055#msg462055 date=1184697090]
I think he would have been scarred always, physically and emotionally, but maybe with professional help he could have dealt with it and found a way to live with it.  I just can't imagine at his age...what he must have been going through...and I have to wonder that his friends didn't take him seriously or at least watch him a bit better!
[/quote]

well, in another article I read it said he was on ecstasy, so probably his friends were, too.  Remember when NYU had all those people doing acid and commiting suicide by being like "Hey, we're on the top floor of the library.  I'll see you downstairs." and just hurling themselves over the banister?