The death of Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old nonbinary student who died last month after a fight at school, has been ruled a suicide by the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office.
The Owasso High School student had “combined toxicity” from two drugs in his system, according to the preliminary autopsy report released Wednesday. The Owasso Police Department had previously indicated that Nex’s death was not the result of trauma from the altercation at school.
The teen, who was transgender and used he and they pronouns, died on Feb. 8, one day after being badly injured in a fight at school. According to video released by Owasso police, Nex told the officers that he was attacked by three girls in the restroom after he squirted water on them for mocking him and his friends. Sue Benedict, Nex’s grandmother and guardian, told The Independent that he was frequently bullied at school because of his gender identity.
“From the beginning of this investigation, Owasso Police observed many indications that this death was the result of suicide,” police said in a statement. “However, investigators did not wish to confirm that information without the final results being presented by the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office.”
Owasso Police Department Lt. Nick Boatman declined to say if police found a note from Nex.
The autopsy report did little to quell anger over the teen’s death. Several people were escorted out of an Owasso Public Schools Board meeting this week — the first since Nex’s death — after protesting the board’s failure to address bullying and discrimination in schools.
The Justice Department is investigating whether the school district failed to respond appropriately to sex-based harassment, after the Human Rights Campaign filed a complaint with the department.
LGBTQ rights advocates have pointed to the state’s increasingly hostile laws against gay and trans people, including students. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has a long record of greenlighting…
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