Rutgers freshman suicide after roommate broadcast gay sexual encounter online?

[jAZ]

Wow. Prank gone waaay wrong.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...gers_post.html

Rutgers freshman is presumed dead in suicide after roommate broadcast gay sexual encounter online

Wednesday, September 29, 2010, 5:42 PM
Kelly Heyboer/ The Star-Ledger



PISCATAWAY — A Rutgers University freshman appears to have killed himself by jumping off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate broadcast live images of the 18-year-old having a sexual encounter with another man on the internet, according to campus and law enforcement sources.

Tyler Clementi, 18, of Ridgewood, is presumed dead after his car, cell phone and computer were found near the George Washington Bridge last week, law enforcement sources said. His wallet was found on the walkway adjacent to the New York-bound lanes. In a statement released this afternoon, Clementi’s family confirmed the suicide and said his body has not been found.

Dharun Ravi, 18, of Plainsboro, and Molly Wei, 18, of Princeton, were charged with two counts each of invasion of privacy for setting up a camera in a dorm room on Sept. 19 and using it to view and transmit a live sex scene, said Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan.

Paul Mainardi of Woodbury, the Clementi family's attorney, said Ravi and Clementi were roommates at Rutgers.

Ravi's Twitter feed on that date referred to seeing his roommate have sex with another man in their room on the Piscataway campus, classmates said.

"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," Ravi said on his Twitter page in a Sept. 19 entry posted at 6:17 p.m.

Two days later, Ravi posted another entry directing his nearly 150 Twitter followers to iChat, an internet messaging service with a live video feed.

"Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes it's happening again," Ravi wrote in the Sept. 21 post.

Ravi's Twitter feed has since been taken down. But the entries survived in a cached version of the page still available through Google's search engine this afternoon.

Prosecutors said Ravi and Wei set up a camera on Sept. 19 and broadcast live images of Clementi having a "sexual encounter." Ravi is also accused of trying unsuccessfully to broadcast a second sex scene Sept. 21.

The Clementi family released a statement this afternoon. "Tyler was a fine young man, and a distinguished musician. The family is heartbroken beyond words. They respectfully request that they be given time to grieve their great loss and that their privacy at this painful time be respected by all," it said.

"The family and their representatives are cooperating fully with the ongoing criminal investigations of two Rutgers University students," the statement said.

Clementi was an accomplished violinist who had received a college scholarship from the Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra for his musicianship and leadership.
The violinist left a lasting impression with some in the Bergen County town, said Hiro Kagei, 17, who played in the orchestra with the teenager. A solo Clementi played in a concert last year "blew the audience away," he said.

"Now that he’ dead, it’s sad to think we won’t hear something like that anymore," Kagei said.

On the Rutgers campus, classmates described Clementi as quiet. At a mandatory dorm meeting called the day he was reported missing, only three students said they had spoken to Clementi since they moved into the dorm last month, according to students who were at the meeting.

Ravi and Wei — who were classmates at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North before enrolling at Rutgers this fall — did not respond to e-mail requests to comment Tuesday. Steve Altman, Ravi’s attorney, also declined to comment.

Ravi surrendered to Rutgers police Tuesday and was released on $25,000 bail, the prosecutor’s office said. Wei surrendered to the campus police Monday and was released on her own recognizance.

Under New Jersey’s invasion-of-privacy laws, it is a fourth degree crime to collect or view images depicting nudity or sexual contact involving another individual without that person’s consent, the prosecutor said. It is a third degree crime to transmit or distribute the images.

If the students are convicted on a third degree offense they could face up to five years in prison each under state law. Conviction on a fourth-degree crime could lead to probation or up to 18 months in prison.

[Mr. Kotter]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I disagree.

If you film a girl blowing a horse because you're mad she wouldn't blow you, it's along the same lines. If you record you roommate nailing his sister because she shot you down, it's along the same lines.

This isn't as simple as a guy doing an ugly chick or a girl being a slut. It's outing a guy and simultaneously ridiculing him for it. There's just very little that can compare to that. I don't see much in the way of analogs there.

Hmmm....gay sex is analogous to beastiality?

Heh.

[Donger]

This is borderline DC material, is it not?

[Otter]

Originally Posted by Donger

This is borderline DC material, is it not?

It's getting there

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by |Zach|

Ok well that will be an apt response if I am to ever post "that is hands down the best looking asian chick in the world"

She's not even cute.

[BIG_DADDY]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I disagree.

If you film a girl blowing a horse because you're mad she wouldn't blow you, it's along the same lines. If you record you roommate nailing his sister because she shot you down, it's along the same lines.

This isn't as simple as a guy doing an ugly chick or a girl being a slut. It's outing a guy and simultaneously ridiculing him for it. There's just very little that can compare to that. I don't see much in the way of analogs there.

So you equate gay sex with beastiality and incest, interesting. I think I'm done. We are miles apart on this. I don't agree with your sacred cow mentality, double standards or your metaphores.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Donger

This is borderline DC material, is it not?

yup, borderline.

religion,politics and anything about "teh gheys"

[Donger]

Oh, I see jAZ started it.

[Mr. Kotter]

Originally Posted by Donger

Oh, I see jAZ started it.

He's having a relapse. Heh.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by BIG_DADDY

So you equate gay sex with beastiality and incest, interesting. I think I'm done. We are miles apart on this. I don't agree with your sacred cow mentality, double standards or your metaphores.

it's not really about double standards .. that is your pet peeve because of where you live.

this is about a direct reflection of society

if you video tape someone doing something embarrassing but socially acceptable is different than video taping someone doing something embarrassing AND socially taboo.


1. video taping a guy kissing a girl - meh, whatever

2. video taping a guy kissing a girl(who turns out to be his sister) - holy shit!!

both circumstance are just a videotape of a kiss but with completely different ramifications. Double standard?

[Mr. Kotter]

Even odds the dude faked this...IMHO.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by patteeu

a) I was never a fan of the "eggshell skull" concept precisely because there are people who try to extend it beyond reason.

b) The "eggshell skull" concept can only take you so far. I'm sure you'd agree that the pez popper in |Zach|'s example shouldn't get in trouble just because he roomed with a guy with an extraordinarily fragile "eggshell skull". I don't think it was at all reasonable for these bullying kids to expect their target to off himself.

Having Pez on a table isn't wronging someone.

If, however, he knows that someone has an aversion to Pez as well as some relatively obvious emtional issues (c'mon, who secludes themselves like that?) and he starts hurling Pez at the kid in the middle of the hallway in front of dozens of peers, then he deserves to be punished to the full extent of the assault.

If the kid offs himself, no, the guy shouldn't get dinged for homicide. But it should absolutely be considered when deciding if he should get the full allowable penalty for assault. And at that point, from a moral standpoint, I hope he goes to jail and his cellmates are able to seize on a quirk of his, then torment him to the greatest extent they can imagine because of it.

I just cannot stand bullies and that's what this guy is. He's a petty, cruel jackass that targeted this kid because he's quiet and he knew there was a societal stigma associated with it. If his roommate was a big 'ol Rutgers lineman locking horns with a farm gal, he doesn't pull shit shit. Hell, if his roommate is a Rutgers basketball player nailing a dude, he doesn't pull this.

To borrow from A Few Good Men -- "They beat up on a weakling, and that's all they did. The rest is just smokefilled coffee-house crap. They tortured and tormented a weaker kid."

That sucks. It sucks hard and I refuse to feel sorry for this kid because he soiled his poor pampered future.

He deserves it.

[|Zach|]

Originally Posted by Mr. Kotter

Even odds the dude faked this...IMHO.

Silly.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BIG_DADDY

So you equate gay sex with beastiality and incest, interesting. I think I'm done. We are miles apart on this. I don't agree with your sacred cow mentality, double standards or your metaphores.

It's not what I believe that counts, it's what society believes.

I guarantee you that the societal stigma associated with homosexuality is a hell of a lot closer to incest than 'slumpbustin' or being a slut.

You continue to ingore an obvious societal stigma in favor of saying "what, he just recorded his roommate makin' out..."

That's just naive.

[Chiefnj2]

Originally Posted by |Zach|

Silly.

especially since they pulled a body from the river.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Mr. Kotter

Even odds the dude faked this...IMHO.

quite the fake:

"Yesterday afternoon police found the body of a young man in the Hudson River, north of the George Washington bridge. WPIX reports that the NYPD believes the body is that of 18-year-old Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi, who jumped off the bridge last week, leaving a Facebook"

http://gothamist.com/2010/09/30/body...eved_to_be.php