Mother of star schoolboy driven to suicide ‘by lockdown’ sues politician who ordered it
Lisa Moore has filed a lawsuit against Illinois Governor JB Pritzker after blaming him for son Trevor Till's death
The mother of a star student whose suicide she says was caused by lockdown measures has sued the politician who ordered them. Trevor Till, from Ottawa in Illinois, took his own life in October.
His mother Lisa Moore has now joined five other parents to sue Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, as well as the Illinois High School Association over rules they blame for Trevor’s death. The youngster was class president, a drum major at Seneca High School, and also bagged the lead in his senior year play, The Music Man.
Moore said: ‘Trevor was devastated that he didn’t have his senior year track and pole vaulting season.
‘The final blow was when winter sports were canceled. Trevor committed suicide on October 21, 2020, a proximate cause of which was Governor Pritzker’s restrictions on high school sports programs.’
Moore and her co-plaintiffs’ lawsuit alleges that Pritzker violated Illinois’s equal protection laws by allowing professional and college sports to continue, but not school sports.
They say that discrepancy was unfair and unlawful, and want high school winter sports re-instated.
Lawyer Laura Grochocki, who is acting on behalf of the families said: ‘(The lockdown rules) are supposed to have a rational basis. We are asking why high school sports have the restrictions and why college sports and pro sports do not.
‘Is there a rational basis for the restrictions on high schools? Or is there something else at work here, why (colleges and pros) are allowed to play and high schools are not?’
Pritzker defended himself on Wednesday by saying that college and professional sports teams have ‘significant resources for protecting their players’ that schools do not.
He cited regular tests, plexiglass barriers and other social distancing measures that better-funded college and professional teams can afford, but which most schools cannot, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Campaigners for opposing sides have continued to wrangle over ongoing lockdown measures. Those in favor say they are essential for public health, and for keeping death rates low.
But others claim the measures are inflicting horrific mental anguish on many, with teens and children particularly badly-affected after months of minimal socializing.
Covid has so-far infected 920,000 people in Illinois, and killed close to 17,000. The US has recorded 18.4 million Covid infections, and more than 326,000 deaths.
For 24/7 confidential emotional support, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255 in the US
For the UK contact Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details