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Father Of Teen, Izabel Laxamana, 13, Who Committed Suicide By Jumping Off Bridge After Being Publicly Shamed By Father, Faces No Criminal Charges

By Angelica N. Sumter
Published on: 04:53 PST, Jun 8, 2015

A Washington father, who many believe caused his 13-year-old daughter to commit suicide by jumping off of a bridge after he publicly shamed her in a YouTube video, will not be facing any criminal charges, according to Mirror.

On Saturday, after her father, Jeff, humiliated her by posting a video of him chopping off all of her hair and posting it on YouTube, the Giaudrone Middle School student Izabel Laxamana of Tacoma, Washington, was seen getting out of her grandmother’s vehicle and jumping off the bridge on South 48th Street Bridge over Interstate 5.

The teen committed suicide.

Izabel was immediately rushed to a hospital in Seattle, where she later died from her injuries.

In the public-shaming video, which has since been deleted, Izabel is seen sitting in a chair with her hair chopped off. She sadly answers to her father who asks, “The consequences of getting messed up, man, you lost all that beautiful hair.”

“Was it worth it?”

She responds with “no,” and afterwards he asked, “How many times did I warn you?” She replies with “a lot.”

It is unclear why she was being punished, but sources say the teen became irate after being banned from running for student body.

Although it was not shown in the video, it was reported that her father had also cut her undergarments as well as destroyed some of her clothes. The 15-second video of the father publicly shaming his daughter sparked social media outrage, and Tacoma police were notified.

However, after an investigation was launched, it was determined that the father will not face any criminal charges. Tacoma police stated that the teen made “poor choices,” and that’s what essentially led to her suicide.

“She was a 13-year-old that made some poor choices, meaning that she didn’t have to kill herself,” said Officer Loretta Cool.

“There was no history of child abuse in the family.”

“It was, ‘I’m going to record this, it’s yours, that way you’ll think twice before you do this again’.”

A Facebook user, Deanna Venable, who responded to the father’s public shaming video, stated, “This father will regret his actions for the rest of his life.”

“The person that downloaded this video should be held accountable, because this child was minor and I feel that there should be rules set in place when a child is under the legal age of consent.

There are better ways of dealing with an unruly child, it’s a shame this had to happen.”

After Izabel Laxaman’s suicide, a Facebook page was created to honor her, which received 11,000 likes.

Her family has also set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for her funeral.

[Image courtesy of Evening Standard/ Getty Images]

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