Tipsheet

We Know How an Oklahoma Transgender Student Died Following a School Bathroom Brawl

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  March 13, 2024 10:30 PM

Things have simmered down some regarding the Nex Benedict story in Oklahoma. Biden had his unhinged State of the Union, Donald Trump clinched the 2024 Republican nomination, Super Tuesday finally led to Nikki Haley dropping out, and the Israel-Hams war continues to rage. There’s been a ton of news lately. We also had to put this story, which galvanized the woke Left, on cruise control because we were waiting on the autopsy report. It’s been released, and it’s nothing like what the liberal media has been suggesting for days. 

Benedict, who identified as nonbinary trans, died following a bathroom brawl at Owasso High School on February 7. You can see where this went in the media: Nex was a transgender student who got bullied and beaten at school and later died. Anti-trans bills from Republicans contributed to this atmosphere of transphobia and violence. 

They tried to make this a Matthew Shepard 2.0. Footage from the school that day and Benedict’s interview at the hospital following the brawl painted a different story. Before we get into that, the medical examiner’s report said that Benedict died by suicide (via NBC News):

The death of Oklahoma student Nex Benedict has been ruled a suicide, according to a medical examiner’s report released Wednesday. 

The 16-year-old, who was transgender and used he and they pronouns, according to friends and family, died Feb. 8, a day after a fight at Owasso High School. His name has become a rallying cry among LGBTQ activists, who argue that an onslaught of legislation targeting the community has made schools less safe for queer and trans students like Nex. 

Nex had reportedly told his mother that he faced bullying at school due to his gender identity, and body-camera footage released last month by police from the hours after the school fight shows Nex lying in a hospital bed. In the video, he tells a police officer how three students “jumped” him after he threw water on them because they were bullying him and his friend for the way they dressed. 

The Owasso Police Department released preliminary information from an autopsy report on Feb. 21 that they said shows Nex’s death was not the result of trauma. Days later, a spokesperson for the department clarified that the fight had not been ruled out as having contributed to or caused his death. 

The medical examiner’s report listed probable cause of death as “combined toxicity” from two drugs, one of which is available over the counter and the other by prescription. 

In a statement posted on its Facebook account Wednesday, following the release of the medical examiner’s report, the Owasso Police Department wrote, in part: “From the beginning of this investigation, Owasso Police observed many indications that this death was the result of suicide. However, investigators did not wish to confirm that information without the final results being presented by the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office.”

First, NBC News isn’t being forthright about the video. Nex admits to not knowing the students in the brawl. The students in the melee had no history of coming after Benedict. Nex started the fight when she sprayed them with water, and the trio reacted in kind. Nex didn’t die from the injuries sustained in the fight. From the beginning, the narrative of LGBT bullying and hate crimes quickly fell apart: 

Libs of TikTok and other pieces of legislation were targeted for their activism against transgender care, which involved genital mutilation of minors. But that’s not what happened here, despite how the media will frame it. Tragically, a high school student committed suicide, but this was not due to supposed anti-trans activism.

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