Moment Florida university student-athlete tells cops her coach told her 'go kill yourself' and called her 'fat' and '********' because she had trouble reading... just a month before she committed suicide
- Julia Pernsteiner, 23, was subjected to years of bullying from her track coach
- In November 2021, Pernsteiner was found dead inside of an apparent suicide
- The student athlete went to police a month before her death to report the coach
Julia Pernsteiner, 23, who had a learning disability, was cruelly mocked by former Jacksonville University track and field coach Ron Grigg, who called her 'fat' and '********,' before he cut her from the team without notice.
Her parents allege that the university subsequently ignored her pleas for help after her removal from the team in September 2021, leading to her suicide two months later.
'He would make these offhand statements like asking me, "Why do I keep you around if you’re not smart and you're not fast?" He was telling me like, "Go kill yourself. You're awful."'
The video was recorded by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office on October 22, Pernsteiner was found dead in her dorm room of an apparent suicide on November 8. The clip was first unearthed by independent Florida-based journalist Samantha Mathers.
- Teammates have recalled that coach Ron Grigg, pictured, took 'special satisfaction' in bullying Pernsteiner, who suffered from a learning disability
She said that after grades started slipping at one point, Grigg called her and yelled: 'You don't know how to wipe your own f*****g ass. Everyone here is done with you. You're the slowest f*****g runner on the planet. You're an awful person.'
Pernsteiner went on to say that after the coach found out that she had been talking publicly about his toxic behavior she would wake up to text messages from him that read: 'You're talking f*****g nonsense. You always talk f*****g nonsense.'
In another message he wrote: 'You're gonna f*****g destroy this track team. You're the one who is tearing it down.'
She says that Grigg would make her 'mentally feel stupid' and that he was 'degrading you on a daily basis.'
The officer goes on to explain to Pernsteiner that Grigg's behavior did not constitute a crime in Florida unless he physically attacked or made a specific threat of violence against her.
- A month before her death, Julia Pernsteiner, 23, reported her coach to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office
- Pernsteiner was found dead in her dorm room from an apparent suicide on November 8, 2021
- The 23-year-old was cruelly mocked by former Jacksonville University track and field coach Ron Grigg before he cut her from the team without notice
'I treat everyone like family. That's why I can say what I say.'
According to the police report that was made after the interview was recorded, the sheriff's deputy wrote that Pernsteiner said that she was kicked off of the team due to falling grades and for being a whistleblower.
'She advised that the head coach for track has caused her emotional distress by telling her to lose weight, threatening to kick her off the team, and saying that she is the worst on the team,' read the report according to Fox News.
Pernsteiner ran track as an outlet to help her deal with her academic studies, which she struggled with as her disability affected her reading, writing and arithmetic skills.
But Grigg was said to take a 'special satisfaction' in humiliating her, often fat shaming her while referring to her as '********,' a lawsuit filed by her family reads.
In court filings, teammates recalled the abuse that Grigg subjected Pernsteiner to after she joined the university track team.
Julia endured brutal bullying at the hands of Grigg for nearly two years, including ridiculing her to her face and behind her back, in texts and emails, per the lawsuit.
- The athlete suffered from a learning disability that affected her ability to read, write and spell
- Pernsteiner contacted other former members of her track team to bring allegations about Grigg's behavior to university officials, with numerous others reporting he had bullied women on the team
- Pernsteiner was swiftly cut from the team in September 2021 without notice, following years of alleged targeted emotional abuse at the hands of her athletic coach
Remaining on the team as an outlet to help her handle her academic studies, Pernsteiner attempted to seek help from her teammates, who also alleged similar abuse from Grigg while he oversaw the team.
They revealed in the court filings that he was persistently 'oppressive, threatening, bullying, condescending and demeaning to many of the young women on the team.'
But after Pernsteiner contacted former athletes at the school to share their accounts of Griggs behavior with school officials, the university subsequently said it could not substantiate the allegations when it opened an investigation.
Despite being employed at the university since 1998, numerous members of the track and field team have since painted a disturbing picture of his conduct, where he routinely belittled those he was tasked with helping.
'Despite knowledge of Grigg’s outrageous and illegal behavior toward women on his teams, (Jacksonville University) acquiesced and condoned that conduct as long as Grigg was coaching winning teams,' the lawsuit further claims.
Following two years of Grigg's harrowing bullying, Pernsteiner was thrown off the team in September 2021, without being given a reason why.
In a plea for help, she sent an email to the university's athletic director in October 2021, begging to be allowed back onto the team as she relied on her athletic life to cope.
'I just don’t know where to go from here,' she said in the email, which was included in the lawsuit.
'I would like to stay and work on improving my grades. I just am not able to do it myself. I’m looking for advice on how to proceed.'
However, the athlete's cries for help were entirely ignored by faculty. After no one responded to her email, Pernsteiner 'spiraled into desperation and depression.'
'For 22 months prior to her death Julia suffered pain, mental anguish, panic attacks, fear and depression,' the lawsuit alleged.
Prior to her tragic death, Pernsteiner had persistently attempted to bring the behavior of Grigg to light, including by contacting local media.
Local independent journalist Samantha Mathers said she had spoken to Pernsteiner several times in late October 2021, just weeks before she took her own life.
While investigating the claims, Mathers said she was heartbreakingly told the news of the 23-year-old's death when Pernsteiner's mother later reached out.
'As soon as she said "I'm just trying to get answers about my daughter," and she explained, I knew exactly what she was talking about, and my heart just fell to the ground,' she told FirstCoastNews.
- In a lawsuit brought by the athlete's parents, several other former members of the same track team have recalled similar bullying behavior that she suffered
- The 23-year-old athlete 'spiraled into desperation and depression' after the university ignored her pleas for help
'The body shaming, the anxiety, the athletes had a lot of anxiety.
'She said that she witnessed that his female athletes had this anxiety about their weight that no other female athletes had at the school.'
Grigg subsequently resigned his position following the scandal, and the university said it was providing 'additional mandatory training' for its coaches.
In an emailed statement to Fox News responding to the lawsuit, Jacksonville University said: 'The students, faculty, and staff of Jacksonville University continue to mourn Julia’s tragic death and we sympathize with the Pernsteiner family for their loss.
'Per University policy, we do not comment on pending litigation.'
Source:https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...old-cops-coach-said-kill-month-took-life.html
