Rutgers freshman kills self after classmates use hidden camera to watch his sexual ac

lumbingmi

lumbingmi

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A Rutgers University freshman, distraught over a gay tryst splashed live across cyberspace by his roommate, plunged to his death from the George Washington Bridge.

"Jumping off the gw bridge sorry," read the final Facebook status from Tyler Clementi, just 72 hours after his private life suddenly became public knowledge.

The 18-year-old committed suicide after his dorm-room rendezvous was surreptitiously streamed on the Web via his roomie's hidden camera, sources told the Daily News.

The student who broadcast the liaison, and the friend who was with him, were arrested while Clementi's family waited for his body to be found.

"His poor parents," one police source said. "Shame is a terrible thing."

The quiet redhead, a scholarship student and skilled violinist, apparently asked roommate Dharun Ravi, 18, for some privacy on Sept. 19.

"Roommate asked for the room till midnight," Ravi wrote on Twitter that night. "I went into Molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay."

Authorities say Ravi streamed the action on the Web to friends - an illegal video transmission.

Two days later, in another Twitter post, Ravi indicated he had plans for a sequel.

"Yes, it's happening again," he wrote, inviting people to watch between 9:30 p.m. and midnight. The second streaming attempt failed, authorities said.

When Clementi learned of the vile voyeurism, he couldn't handle it and methodically planned his own death.

Sometime after 8 p.m. on Sept. 22, a friend said, he used his cell phone to change his Facebook status to the chilling farewell message.

Clementi wandered along the south walkway of the GWB from Fort Lee, N.J., to the tower on the New York side at 8:50 p.m., sources said.

Once there, he carefully left behind his wallet - including his license, AAA card and Rutgers ID - before leaping to his death. There was no note.

Authorities discovered the corpse of a white male floating Wednesday near the Columbia University boathouse, about 30 blocks north of the bridge, but no identification was made.

The dead teen's devastated family said they were "cooperating fully" with the continuing criminal probe against Ravi and his high-school pal and fellow Rutgers freshman Molly Wei.

"Tyler was a fine young man, and a distinguished musician," they wrote. "The family is heartbroken beyond words."

A priest spent about an hour Wednesday consoling the family at their Ridgewood, N.J., home.

Ravi and Wei were each charged with two counts of invasion of privacy. Ravi, freed on $25,000 bail, faced two additional charges for his botched bid at beaming Clementi's love life on the Internet.

They face up to five years in prison if convicted.

Rutgers, which launched a program to promote civility on campus just this week, said if the allegations are true, the duo violated the school's "standards of decency and humanity."

The gay rights group Garden State Equality denounced the death as a hate crime.

Rutgers student Danielle Birnbohm, who lived next door to Clementi and Ravi, said the pair shared a room in the Davidson C dorm but spent little time together.

"[Tyler] kept to himself. He was a great person," said Birn-bohm. "It's a shame. I can't believe someone would kill himself because of that."

Another dorm resident, Nicole Conter, recalled Clementi as "cute and quiet."

"He was in a band, and played instruments," said the chemistry major. "He really kept to himself."

At Ridgewood High School, the teen won a scholarship from the local symphony orchestra at his June graduation.

Ravi, of Plainsboro, and Wei, 18, of Princeton, were members of the same clique at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North in New Jersey.

Friends described Ravi as an outgoing Ping-Pong player and Frisbee enthusiast who enjoyed a good prank.

"I think he's a good person," said Michael Zhuang, 17, a neighbor and former classmate. "I don't think he's a homophobe. It would've been no different if it was a girl in the room."

lmcshane@nydailynews.com

With Kerry Wills, Matthew Lysiak, John Lauinger, Jonathan Lemire and Samuel Goldsmith
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Rutgers freshman kills self after classmates use hidden camera to watch his sexual activity: sources
 
I sure do hope the kids that posted the vid's get jail time. They were heartless in posting the sex vid's. This is crap the world has to deal with these days with everything going online for a laugh
 
It's horrible to have those two events in your life, but I'm not really sure if the video feed (was it even broadcast?) pushed that dude to commit suicide?
 
um.... I'm wondering why would he jump at GWB....... it's quite far from Rutgers. If he was gonna jump off the bridge, he could do that right next to Rutgers - the Raritan River....

just saying.
 
craigm26 said:
It's horrible to have those two events in your life, but I'm not really sure if the video feed (was it even broadcast?) pushed that dude to commit suicide?
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the shame and humiliation can do that to a person with low self-esteem or lack of social life. Just take a look at Japan.
 
30suicide_337-span-articleLarge.jpg

Tyler Clementi, left, is thought to have committed suicide, days after he was secretly filmed and broadcast on the Internet. Mr. Clementi’s roommate, Dharun Ravi, center, and another classmate, Molly Wei, have been charged in the case.
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Also, if he wasn't out about his sexuality, that's pretty much devastating. Outing other people is stupid, it's not your place to do it.

I hope they see punishment fit for what they did.

I don't agree with the last quote from that kid. If he was filmed with a girl, the outcome would have been different and it would have been viewed differently by peers. Hate crime, I'm not sure. But, homophobic. Absolutely.
 
Sad story, and whether or not the suicide resulted from the filming of his sexual activities, its sad you can't even trust the very person you live with.
 
I'm not sure about my roommate if she would like to take video of me. omg omg omg
 
craigm26 said:
It's horrible to have those two events in your life, but I'm not really sure if the video feed (was it even broadcast?) pushed that dude to commit suicide?
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Well it certainly didn't do anything to prevent it.:roll: Of course it was a contributing factor; and most probably the trigger.
 
That was very humiliating for him. But he didn't have to kill himself over it. I suspect he suffered depression. People with depression can't really handle humiliation or stress.
 
forgot to post the latest news. the body found at the river has been identified as this guy.

Prosecutor: Bias charges may come in webcast of sexual encounter - CNN.com
The New York City Medical Examiner's office said Thursday that a body recovered a day earlier from the Hudson River is Clementi's. Spokeswoman Grace Burgess said the cause of death was ruled to be suicide by drowning and blunt injuries from the impact of the jump from the bridge.
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