Bullying Out of Bounds

Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, 18, committed suicide after a video revealing his sexuality was streamed on the internet. Byron Pitts reports on the link between gay bullying and suicide.

Video: CBS

By Michael Daly, New York Daily News
9/30/10

He lay in a black body bag at the end of the dock at the Columbia University boathouse... The cops began the task of determining if he was the Rutgers student who jumped off the George Washington Bridge last week after two tormentors used a hidden camera to live-stream his sex life.

The body looked about the right age and had clearly been in the water for a number of days.

The hair was the right sandy color though a little longer than in a photograph the police had on hand. A check of the pockets yielded no identification, but 18-year-old Tyler Clementi had left his wallet on the walkway before he leapt.

Too bad the cops could not have brought the tormentors out onto the dock and unzipped the bag and asked if this was the wonderful young man they pushed to the point he leapt.

There have always been cruel kids who like to pick on the vulnerable, but only recently have the tools of cyberspace given them such power.

They can shame and humiliate on a scale as big as the Internet itself. Bullying has no bounds. Viciousness can go viral.

Read more at the New York Daily News.

	Audio Embed: All Things Considered 9/30/10, Hosts: Robert Siegal & Melissa Block, Reporter: Joel Rose