A New Jersey boy who jumped to his death from a school window last month was upset about a chess game, according to a police report about the incident released Wednesday.
The 10-year-old, whose name has been withheld, jumped from the second-story window at Grant Elementary School "headfirst, unforced, unassisted and of his own accord," said Joseph Faulborn Jr., chief of police in Dumont where the incident occurred, according to The Record.
A teacher's assistant that was in the classroom at the time told investigators the fifth-grader became upset when his opponent did not say "checkmate" after capturing his king at the end of the game.
"Do you want me to do something drastic?" the boy said, according to the staff member.
Just as the students were preparing to leave for lunch, the child began crying and wrote a note to his opponent, instructing him to not open it until he got to the cafeteria, The Record reported.
The assistant confiscated the note, but when she turned back around, the boy had already hoisted himself up onto a shelf in front of an open window and jumped headfirst. The window was open about a foot, according to the police report obtained by The Record. Police did not release what was written in the note.
"There was no criminal activity on the part of any individual that would warrant further investigation or criminal charges," Faulborn said. "The Dumont Police Department investigation of this incident is concluded and the case closed."
Upon interviewing his classmates, police learned the child had a history of threatening to throw himself out of a window while upset. In December, he allegedly told a classmate, "I'm this close to jumping out the window," after losing a chess game. The opponent told police he thought the boy was joking.
Dumont Superintendent Emanuele Triggiano declined to give The Record comment about if any district policy changes were made. He referred all questions to school board attorney Francis Leddy III, who also declined to comment about policy changes.
Students who knew the boy, who was into his first year at Grant Elementary, said he loved playing "Minecraft" and often chatted with friends on Skype.
His parents declined to give comment after the report was released.
