OKLAHOMA CITY The nonbinary student’s death in the washroom of an Oklahoma high school the day after a fight has been determined to be a suicide, according to an autopsy report.
IN SHORT
Oklahoma Teen’s Suicide After School Fight
- Nonbinary student Nex Benedict’s death at Owasso High School, Oklahoma, has been confirmed as suicide.
- The 16-year-old died from side effects of antihistamine diphenhydramine and antidepressant fluoxetine.
- The autopsy report revealed that Nex’s death was not trauma-related, but the fight was not ruled out as a factor.
- The likely cause of death was “combined toxicity” from two drugs.
- The incident has sparked national attention to the safety of transgender and gay children in Oklahoma.
- State schools superintendent Ryan Walters has pushed for a new rule requiring schools to obtain state board of education permission before changing a child’s gender on official records.Over 350 organizations and well-known people have signed a letter calling for Walters’ dismissal.
The death of the teen has brought together LGBTQ rights activists across the country, who say that a flood of laws that target the community has made schools less safe for trans students.
Nex Benedict was declared dead on February 8, one day after getting hurt in a fight in the bathroom at Owasso High School. The 16-year-old died because of side effects from the antihistamine diphenhydramine and the antidepressant fluoxetine, according to a brief autopsy report. The medical examiner said the kid killed himself. The full report will be made public in 10 business days.
Researchers have been guessing for weeks about how the teen died, but they still don’t know a lot about the fight that happened before Nex’s death.
Nex was said to have told his mother that he was bullied at school because of his gender identity. Last month, police released body camera video from the hours after the school fight that shows Nex lying in a hospital bed. Three students “jumped” him after he threw water on them because they were making fun of him and his friend for how they dressed. This is shown on video.
On February 21, the Owasso Police Department revealed some of the findings of an autopsy report, which they claimed demonstrated that Nex’s death was not trauma-related. After a few days, a department spokesman made it clear that the fight had not been ruled out as a factor in his death.
In the medical examiner’s report, the likely cause of death was “combined toxicity” from two drugs, one of which can be bought without a prescription and the other with one.
A lawyer for the teen’s family, named Jacob Biby, did not quickly return messages about the medical examiner’s findings.
Friends and family have said in the past that the basic facts of what happened were upsetting, even while they were waiting for more details.
Nex told a school security officer that the fight in the bathroom started because some girls they didn’t know were laughing at the way the teen and her friends dressed. The police put out a recording of the exchange that the officer’s body camera caught.
The national attention on the safety of transgender and gay children in Oklahoma because of their deaths has focused on the comments made by state school superintendent Ryan Walters. He pushed for a new rule in the state that says schools must get permission from the state board of education before changing a child’s gender on official records.
A letter with the signatures of more than 350 groups and famous people asked Walters to be fired. Both Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona have said something about Nex’s death.