Aged 15, a young man was discovered unconscious in the toilets of a high school in Reims. The cause of death is currently unknown.
A macabre discovery. In a high school in Reims (Marne), a 15-year-old student was found dead in the toilet on Tuesday April 9 by members of the staff of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste de La Salle establishment. Batiste was missing at the end of the day. A friend went to get him from the toilet before finding someone in charge to open the toilet door which was closed. In cardiac arrest, emergency services were unable to resuscitate him.
This student “died in the toilets of the boarding school”, but “no suspicious traces” were found on the body and “the cause of death is unknown”, said the Reims prosecutor, François Schneider, on Wednesday April 10. The context of this death “is absolutely not clearly defined”, he explained.
“Mockery” mentioned
Batiste suffered from a certain “discomfort” at high school according to Didier Tilly, director of the establishment. He was “a young person who was researching” himself, “who was questioning himself like many young people of his age”, he said before referring to “mockery”. This possible harassment has not been confirmed. According to France 3, the idea of the adolescent’s sexual orientation is one of the plausible hypotheses. He was also followed by school life. Several students at the establishment reported harassment. The young man was “discriminated against on the basis of his sexual orientation”, according to one of them. Batiste even complained to high school staff.
The police found no visible traces of violence. According to information collected by The Dispatch, it could be suicide. An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday, April 11, to determine the causes of death. A psychological support unit has been set up at the Saint-Jean-Baptiste de La Salle high school. The Minister of National Education Nicole Belloubet called for “light” on this death. “Light must be shed on this tragedy: this is what I asked of the network of which this establishment is a part,” she reacted on social networks.