Tyler Clementi
Webcam suicide
Died when: 18 years 277 days (225 months)Star Sign: Sagittarius
Tyler Clementi (December 19, 1991 – September 22, 2010) was an American student at Rutgers University–New Brunswick who jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River at the age of 18, on September 22, 2010.
On September 19, 2010, Clementi's roommate, Dharun Ravi, used a webcam on his dorm room computer and his hallmate Molly Wei's computer to view, without Clementi's knowledge, Clementi kissing another man.
Clementi eventually found out, after Ravi posted about the webcam incident on Twitter.Two days later, Ravi urged friends and Twitter followers to watch via his webcam a second try between Clementi and his friend, though the viewing never occurred.
Ravi and Wei were indicted for their roles in the webcam incidents, though they were not charged with a role in the suicide itself.
On May 6, 2011, Wei entered a plea agreement allowing her to avoid prosecution.Ravi went to trial in early 2012, and was convicted on May 21, 2012 on all charges related to the webcam viewing, with the jury additionally finding that Clementi reasonably believed that Ravi had targeted him for his romantic orientation, thus making Ravi guilty of committing hate crimes against Clementi.
After an appeals court overturned parts of the conviction, Ravi pleaded guilty to one count of attempted invasion of privacy on October 27, 2016.
Clementi's death brought national attention to the issue of cyberbullying and the struggles facing LGBT youth.