Wyatt J. Lansberry, a 12-year-old seventh-grader, took his own life on May 18 after experiencing a “particularly brutal day of bullying” at the Altoona Area Junior High School, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Johnstown on Monday by his father, Marc, with whom he lived.

The youngster’s mother, Terri Bradford of Pleasant Gap, although not listed as a plaintiff in the legal action, has consented to the filing of the federal complaint by Marc Lansberry, which outlines in detail the psychological toll that persistent bullying took on the child.

In a note written by Wyatt, he detailed the extent of the bullying, intimidation and harassment he suffered throughout the school year, and the lawsuit stated that he expressed that “if any good came from his death, it would be that this type of behavior no longer be permitted or turned a blind eye to by the school district.”

In the lawsuit, Altoona attorneys Steven P. Passarello and Daniel J. Kiss charged that Wyatt was bullied in front of school district personnel as well as other students and that the bullying occurred not only on school property during school hours but while the youngster walked to and from his home and on social media.

“The bullying consisted of physical actions, emotional trauma and psychological attacks, including suggestions by his antagonists “that he was better off dead and should commit suicide.”

The defendants in the legal action include the Altoona Area School District, Superintendent Charles Prijatelj and school board President Don “Dutch” Brennan.

School district solicitor Carl J. Beard said Monday evening that he could not discuss the lawsuit because he had not yet seen it.

He said the district was aware months ago that legal action was a possibility.

He also pointed out there are two sides to every lawsuit but emphasized he could not say anything until he had the opportunity to see it and to discuss it with the nine-member board.

The school district had a policy to address bullying, but after the youngster’s death, many parents questioned the policy and clamored for stricter enforcement.

A school board meeting within days of Wyatt’s death drew an estimated 200 people demanding changes in the district’s policies and procedures.

One of the deficiencies in the policy cited in the lawsuit was that Wyatt’s parents were never notified by school officials of the persistent bullying.

The lawsuit pointed to instances that allegedly demonstrated the district’s lack of sensitivity toward the bullying.

It contended that: “It was known throughout the school that (Wyatt) was persistently picked on by his peers.”

Not only weren’t the parents notified, but the day after the youngster’s death, Marc Lansberry received a phone call from the school reporting that Wyatt was “absent.”

“This was after the school had been made aware of the tragic suicide of Wyatt the night before,” it was stated in the 19-page complaint.

Also at a subsequent school board meeting, the superintendent offered his condolences to Passarello and his wife, who serves as his paralegal, “for their loss.”

“It was clear the defendants had no prior dealings with the Lansberry family prior to this tragic event taking place, and they had no idea who we were,” the lawsuit stated.

The school board eventually agreed to hire attorney Jocelyn P. Kramer of the Pittsburgh law firm of Weiss Burkardt Kramer LLC to review the policies and procedures of the district, which would include the policy on bullying.

The lawsuit is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for violation of a section of the federal civil rights statute, pointing out the harm to Wyatt “was foreseeable and fairly direct in that (the suicide) was caused by the defendant’s failure to create, implement and enforce a proper plan to address and prevent bullying, intimidation and harassment while affirmatively failing to notify Wyatt’s parents of the ongoing bullying, intimidation and harassment that he was being subjected to as was required by district policy and regulation.”

The youngster is survived by “a special mother,” Danielle Arlene Lansberry, three siblings and both maternal and parental grandparents.

His obituary stated he aspired to be a Marine like one of his brothers, that he was a straight-A student and that he loved the outdoors, especially hiking, riding his bike and making fires in his backyard with his family.