Suicide Online.
A 19-year-old Florida committed suicide live on Wednesday on Justin.tv by overdose, the Broward County Medical Examiner & Trauma Services Division said Friday.
The teen had announced his pending suicide on a chat forum, which linked to the broadcast. He had even left an online suicide note.
About 185 viewers were watching, some seen egging him on.
Someone finally notified the moderator of the bodybuilding site, who traced Biggs’ location and called police, but by the time officers entered Abraham Biggs’ home, it was too late.
The reality of what happened came to light after police entered the video frame and were seen hovering over Biggs’ body. While online viewers watched the police officer prodding the Florida teen to see if he was alive, their chat comments ranged from OMG to LOL.
Miami lawyer William Hill said there is probably nothing that could be done legally to those who watched and did not act. As for whether the Web site could be held liable, Hill said there doesn’t seem to be much of a case for negligence.
“There could conceivably be some liability if they knew this was happening and they had some ability to intervene and didn’t take action,” said Hill, who does business litigation and has represented a number of Internet-based clients. But “I think it would be a stretch.”
It’s not the first time Justin.tv has run into problems. Soon after Justin.tv launched, viewers played a prank on Kan, calling the cops from his cellphone to report a stabbing. With guns drawn, the authorities broke into Kan’s apartment to the delight of viewers.
