--- title: Parents Say Boy Filmed in Bathroom Committed Suicide Over Bullying description: The video posted to social media allegedly showed the boy masturbating canonical: https://time.com/2986302/bullied-teen-suicide/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-15T14:36:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:39.681Z og:title: Parents Say Teen Committed Suicide Over Viral Bullying Video og:description: The video posted to social media allegedly showed the boy masturbating og:url: https://time.com/2986302/bullied-teen-suicide/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Parents Say Teen Committed Suicide Over Viral Bullying Video twitter:description: The video posted to social media allegedly showed the boy masturbating twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Parents Say Teen Committed Suicide Over Viral Bullying Video  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jul 15, 2014 2:36 PM UTC  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jul 15, 2014 2:36 PM UTC A San Diego couple says their 14-year-old son took his life after a video of him allegedly masturbating in a school bathroom went viral. The parents have filed a $1 million [claim](http://media.10news.com/photo/2014/07/13/071314%5Fburdette%5Fclaim%5F6806865%5Fver1.0.pdf) against the San Diego Unified School District, arguing that a teacher, an administrator and possibly other faculty members knew the boy was being bullied over the video and did nothing to stop it. Matthew Burdette committed suicide on Nov. 29 over Thanksgiving break. The wrestler and water polo player left a suicide note that said he could no longer “handle school” and that he had “no friends,” [according to the claim](http://media.10news.com/photo/2014/07/13/071314%5Fburdette%5Fclaim%5F6806865%5Fver1.0.pdf), which KGTV-TV Channel 10 in San Diego first acquired. Burdette was kicked out of class at University City High School on Nov. 15 for eating sunflower seeds. The teacher did not tell him where to wait, so he went to the boys’ bathroom, according to the [claim](http://media.10news.com/photo/2014/07/13/071314%5Fburdette%5Fclaim%5F6806865%5Fver1.0.pdf). Another student in the bathroom secretly videotaped Burdette in his stall, allegedly masturbating. The video was then posted to social networks like Snapchat and Vine. “From the moment the video was posted, Matthew was mercilessly bullied, harassed and teased by students who had seen the video. This continued for the next two weeks,” the claim said. The parents say they did not learn about the video until after their son’s death. Parents Say Boy Filmed in Bathroom Committed Suicide Over Bullying ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2986302/bullied-teen-suicide/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2986302/bullied-teen-suicide/"},"headline":"Parents Say Teen Committed Suicide Over Viral Bullying Video","datePublished":"2014-07-15T14:36:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:55:39.681Z","description":"The video posted to social media allegedly showed the boy masturbating","url":"https://time.com/2986302/bullied-teen-suicide/","keywords":["Living","Parenting","Crime","Bullying"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2986302/bullied-teen-suicide/","name":"Parents Say Teen Committed Suicide Over Viral Bullying Video"}}]}] ```