CLARK COUNTY, Ind — Four months have passed since the Emilys have seen their son Jase’s smile.
They said he was a student at Charlestown High School, eager to learn and play his favorite sport, football.
The family shares one of the last fond memories they have of their sweet boy, walking in a football march before one of the high school’s games.
“Every parent says their kid’s a good kid, but Jase was just that – a good kid that we never had a problem with,” Elyce, Jase’s mother, said. “He never seemed unhappy or upset. He just liked his life and he liked everything.”
Elyce said all of that changed on May 20 when Jase took his own life, three days after the 15-year-old was arrested for having a vape pen inside Charlestown High School.
“Jase told us he was handcuffed and shackled. I can only imagine as a kid that cared so much for others to know that – that happened to him, and people could see that,” she said.
Elyce claims she wasn’t notified about the arrest until the school’s resource officer was on the way to Clark County Juvenile Detention Center with Jase.
According to arrest records, Jase’s pen tested positive for marijuana.
Officer Kevin Fisher said he also researched the vape brand online and learned it had an 83% THC level.
However, the family’s attorney Gordon Ingle said the punishment did not fit the crime.
"We don't believe they had probable cause to check his locker. They did a criminal investigation and they talked to him which is a violation of the law because before you can talk to a juvenile, you have to give that juvenile the chance to have meaningful consultation with someone, in this case a parent. This was just police over reach if there ever were any," Ingle explained.
To make matters worse, Elyce said administrators expelled Jase from school and the very sport he loved.
“Finding out he wasn't going to be able to play the next year it was rough for him. And it didn't hit us of what that might do to him until after he was gone," she said.
According to the tort claim filed on behalf Jase's family, the teen was wrongfully arrested and detained, and his constitutional rights were violated.
The claim also names Greater Clark County Schools and Clark County Sheriff's Office responsible for damages.
WHAS11 News reached out to both parties, and each declined to comment.
"There's no acknowledgement there that what they did was wrong," Elyce said.
Elyce hopes the tort claim will hold them accountable and protect others from the pain her family feels, because of a preventable action she said led to a permanent tragedy.
"We just don't want any other family to have to go through what we did. We want Jase back but that'll never happen."
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