Oklahoma police investigate teen’s death
OKLAHOMA CITY — A 16-year-old Oklahoma high school student who died a day after an altercation in a school restroom that may have been prompted by bullying over gender identity did not die as a result of injuries suffered in the fight, police said Wednesday.
Police in the suburban Tulsa community of Owasso are investigating the death of 16-year-old Nex Benedict who identified as nonbinary and used they/them pronouns, family members said.
Although the cause of death has not been determined, Owasso police said in a statement that preliminary autopsy results indicate the teen did not die as a result of injuries suffered in the fight.
“At this time, any further comments on the cause of death are currently pending until toxicology results and other ancillary testing results are received,” the statement says.
Neither police nor school officials have said what led to the fight, but Benedict's family says there had been harassment because of the teen's nonbinary identity.
“While at Owasso High School, Nex was attacked and assaulted in a bathroom by a group of other students,” the family said Wednesday in a statement released by their attorney. “A day later, the Benedicts' beautiful child lost their life.”
Police Lt. Nick Boatman said detectives are interviewing staff and students at the school to learn more about what happened.
Benedict was able to walk out of the bathroom after the Feb. 7 fight but was taken to a hospital by their family and sent home that night. The next day, paramedics were dispatched to the home for a medical emergency and took Benedict to a hospital emergency room, where they later died, police said.
Nex Benedict's mother, Sue Benedict, told The Independent the teen suffered bruises all over their face and eyes after they and a transgender student got into a fight in a school restroom with three older girls.
“I didn't know how bad it had gotten,” Sue Benedict told the outlet.
Malia Pila, Nex Benedict's sister, described her sibling as a “wonderful child that impacted all of us in ways that are difficult to truly articulate in their importance.”
“We're deeply, deeply sad about their passing,” she wrote in a text message Wednesday to The Associated Press.
Sue Benedict said in a statement on a GoFundMe page set up to help cover funeral expenses that the family was still learning to use the teen's preferred name and pronouns.
“Please do not judge us as Nex was judged, please do not bully us for our ignorance on the subject,” she wrote. “Nex gave us that respect and we are sorry in our grief that we overlooked them.”
Boatman said investigators will forward the results of that probe to the local district attorney to determine what, if any, charges should be filed.
When asked if the students involved in the fight could be charged with a hate crime, Boatman said, “All crimes and charges will be on the table.”
School officials in Owasso, a suburb about 13 miles northeast of Tulsa, said in a statement a physical altercation occurred in a restroom and that students were in the restroom for less than two minutes before the fight was broken up by other students and a staff member.
After the fight, each of the students “walked under their own power to the assistant principal's office and the nurse's office,” and school officials recommended to the parent of one of the students involved that they visit a medical facility for further examination.
Police said they were not notified of the altercation until the student arrived at the hospital, and that a report was taken at that time.
Oklahoma's Republican-led Legislature has passed several new laws targeting transgender and nonbinary people in recent years, including bills that prohibit children from receiving gender-affirming medical care.