‘She was a very sensitive child. People can only take so much.’ —Keith Cummings (above), whose 15-year-old niece, Amanda, killed herself (Chad Rachman)
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A Staten Island teen who killed herself by stepping in front of a bus had been tormented for years by bullies and had just been dumped by her boyfriend, relatives said yesterday.
Depressed and at the end of her emotional rope, Amanda Cummings, 15, went through with a suicide she had been threatening for years.
The kids who made her life miserable were so vicious that they kept up the bullying via Facebook posts as she lay dying.
An EMT who saw Amanda take her final step found a suicide note in her clothing that mentioned the boyfriend, saying she couldn’t go on without him.
Although the Christmas breakup had driven her over the edge, Amanda’s family said years of incessant bullying pushed her to her breaking point.
“She was always being picked on and tormented by other kids and bullied,” said Amanda’s uncle, Keith Cummings, 45.
“It was years of being tormented. She clinged to people. She was a very sensitive child. People can only take so much . . . I want some kind of justice done. Our family lost a life.”
Her pals said some of the bullying had taken place at New Dorp HS. An education source said there was no evidence Amanda had alerted the school.
Family and friends said Amanda had been hospitalized two years ago after threatening suicide. She said she was going to slit her wrists, but did not go through with it.
A recent Facebook posting gave a hint of her state of mind:
“ill just go f— myself, just like u said baby,” she wrote last month. “then ill go kill myself, with these pills, this knife, this life has already done half the job.”
Cops said Amanda stepped in front of the city bus at Hunter Avenue and Hylan Boulevard at about 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 27.
She was rushed to Staten Island University Hospital in critical condition, and was pronounced dead Monday.
Cummings said Amanda’s tormenters callously picked at her, even as she lay in her hospital bed, posting, “LMAO she jumped in front of a bus. lol”
He said the posts have since been deleted.
Cummings said his niece, who had an older sister, was on the losing end of a messy love triangle with a 19-year-old college student that involved name-calling and threats of violence.
Cummings said the ex had sent the sophomore a series of nasty text messages, and that Amanda’s mother had to pick her up from school for several days after her flame’s new girlfriend threatened her with a knife.
A funeral Mass has been set for 10 a.m. Friday at St. Ann’s Church on Cromwell Ave.
Additional reporting by Leonard Greene and Corrie Thomas