In an apparent suicide, a twelfth grader at the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach in Woodmere, NY, jumped from the eleventh floor of a Miami beachfront hotel this past Friday.
Philip "Tuli" Kagan, of Lawrence, NY, was spending the Yeshiva winter break in Miami with his father. According to a preliminary report released Monday to the Florida Jewish News by the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner, witnesses observed him jump from the eleventh floor of the hotel to the alley below at approximately 11:50 AM. He was pronounced dead on the scene. The medical examiner ruled his death a suicide.
Police Captain Greg Roy was the first officer to arrive on the scene. After Kagan was pronounced dead, Roy went to the boy's room, where he met his father, Howard Kagan, and informed him of his son's death. Kagan told Roy that his son had a history of depression for which he had been taking medication, but that nothing had occurred in recent days to spark the suicide. In the police report, however, Kagan is quoted as saying that his son had been depressed for the past two days.
Tuli Kagan was buried Sunday in Hewlett, NY.
But despite his attempts at self-improvement, Tuli was "troubled," according to "Lisa," a twelfth grader from Miami Beach, who was in his travel group on a 2006 teen summer tour.
In fact, prior to leaving on the 2006 summer tour, Kagan was hospitalized in New York after he attempted suicide by swallowing a large quantity of pain killers, according to medical records obtained from North Shore Hospital by the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner. He had previously been diagnosed with depression and had been taking Lexapro, an anti-depressant, for about a month.
"Lisa" ran into Kagan in Miami Beach the day before his death and recalled thinking that he seemed fine. "I was surprised and happy to see him in such high spirits," she said.
Grief counselors coordinated by Chai Lifeline were on hand at Hebrew Academy of Long Beach when students returned to school Monday morning, however they were there strictly to deal with the loss; public discussion of suicide was shunned.
But it's also important not to sweep suicide under the rug, according to Jackie Rosen, founder and Executive Director of the Florida Initiative for Suicide Prevention.
"The suicide figures we have available today are off by as much as 50% because so many go unreported," said Rosen. "Many one-car accidents, overdoses, and falls from high places are classified as accidental because the family insists on covering up the true cause of death.
Rosen also said that teens are especially at risk because of the immense pressures that are piled upon them: testing, bullying, being different, pressure to succeed, and limited access to working or traveling parents.
Kagan was the youngest suicide victim Captain Roy has encountered so far in his career as a police officer. "[At this age] you don't even know enough about life to decide whether or not it's worth living," Roy said.