An autistic 13-year-old boy, Jakob Bowerman, was allegedly pushed off a Wisconsin pier by two people, a 13-year-old and a 21-year-old, resulting in his drowning death. Jakob, who was bullied for his condition, barely knew the suspects.
Videos by Suggest
According to a release issued by the Marinette Police Department, the incident occurred on August 20. At around 1:33 p.m., MPD officers and emergency responders were dispatched to the Government Pier. They had received a report of a drowning person.
Upon arrival, one MPD officer managed to pull the victim out of the water, who was then identified as Jakob. Life-saving efforts were started, and then the teen was transported to Aurora Medical Center and then to St. Vincent’s Hospital in Green Bay.
Unfortunately, three days later, Jakob Bowerman succumbed to his injuries. As reported by WFRV, an autopsy conducted on August 27 confirmed that Jakob’s cause of death was drowning.
An investigation was conducted by authorities, which led to the arrest of a 16-year-old boy and a 21-year-old man, identified as Tyler Birch. They had allegedly pushed Jakob off a pier.
WFRV, citing a criminal complaint, reported that the 16-year-old initially told police that the three of them had jumped in the water, all at once. However, he allegedly revealed later that he and Birch had grabbed Jakob by the arms and legs and thrown him off the pier. The teen blamed the 21-year-old for actually pushing Jakob, the complaint alleged.
According to the unnamed teen, they were just “horsing around,” jumping into the water to get him after the alleged push.
Birch was charged with second-degree reckless homicide, and the 16-year-old was taken into custody. Birch’s cash bond was set at $500,000.
A Bullied Boy, Dead
While talking with WBAY, Taylor Singer, Jakob’s mother, detailed how she found out about his son’s incident. On August 20, police officers arrived at her home, and they told her what had happened.
Singer revealed how Jakob had been the victim of relentless bullying throughout his life due to his autism. When police told her that they had video footage of the Birch and the 16-year-old allegedly pushing Jakob off a pier, the grieving mother knew that bullying had caused this.
“Kids, they just need to be nice,” Singer said. “There’s no reason to pick on people. There’s no reason to think it’s funny to push kids off a pier. I don’t know if they think it was funny or what. But we need to do better with our kids and teach them to respect one another.”
As reported by NBC26, Singer detailed that Jakob barely knew the 16-year-old, having met him days prior. He didn’t know Birch at all.
A GoFundMe was set up to help support Jakob’s family through this extremely difficult time.