April 15, 2014
Orange County Register
Family Drops Lawsuit Against Huntington Beach Over Son's Suicide
No one would want to see the life of a good and decent young person's life be snuffed out, no one would want to stand aside and just "let it happen". I don't know why something, anything, didn't interfere with my son taking his life. Oh how I wish I could have been the one to do that!
However, I DO know that those on the police force are good and moral people who are trying to do their job the best they can, and I know that they are grieving alongside us. I hope and pray that we as a community can learn from this, and hopefully we will be able to find ways to stop these types of things from happening again. I will spend the rest of my life trying. I hold no ill will against the police. I'm simply devastated over the loss of such a wonderful young man, who changed my life (as well as others) for the better.
I experience a flurry of emotions on a daily basis, and my son is constantly on my mind. Matthew was not rebellious, did not do drugs or alcohol, wasn't a trouble maker. You won't find a single person who has something bad to say about him. That's rare! He loved God, he loved people, he cared about their problems, and had a heart for animals and the underprivileged. He was deeply loved and well liked. It's very rare to find an unselfish teenager, a teenager who was other-centered.
People who struggle with depression can mask their emotions with a superficially bright affect. Complaints bring nothing but the worst out of people, and I don't want to nurse negative thoughts. I know in my heart no public servant would not provide assistance on purpose.
Thank you for listening, thank you to all who care about his story.”
December 3, 2013
CBS 2 & KCAL 9 Los Angeles
OC Woman Sues Police For Not Responding To Teen Son’s Suicide Threat
November 21, 2013
John & Ken Show KFI 640 AM Radio Interview
OC Parents Sue Huntington Beach PD Over Son's Suicide
September 26, 2013
Orange County Register
A DISTANT CALL FOR HELP
Girl hundreds of miles away alerted police to a suicide threat, to no avail.
By Jeremy Balan
Orange County Register
Girl hundreds of miles away alerted police to a suicide threat, to no avail.
By Jeremy Balan
Orange County Register
On the night of July 16, Ana Gutierrez desperately tried to save a stranger's life.
While skimming through a social media phone application called iFunny, she saw a cry for help. On a site normally used to post comedic pictures, Matthew Cline wrote he would be committing suicide that night.
Gutierrez, a 17-year-old high school student from Los Banos in Northern California, took action. Not knowing who Cline was or where he lived, she called a local suicide hotline, but was told that without the boy's location nothing could be done. If she could find out where he lived, she was told, she should call the local police department.
After a little searching, Gutierrez found a direct link to Cline's Facebook account on his profile at iFunny. She reached out through Facebook and, to her surprise, he accepted a friend request almost immediately. With access to his profile, she found out he lived in Huntington Beach and attended Liberty Christian School in the same city.
Gutierrez's next call was to the Huntington Beach Police Department. She sent the police the iFunny post through e-mail and directed them to Cline's Facebook page. Gutierrez spoke to a female officer, who told her that the Facebook page was open on her computer and that she would do everything she could.
The next day, Gutierrez was relieved to see that Cline was on iFunny again, saying he didn't go through with his plan.
The police must have reached him, Gutierrez thought; he's OK now.
The truth was that the police didn't get to him, and he wasn't OK. The next night Cline shot and killed himself.
Matthew Cline was quiet, a little shy and polite. At 17, he had yet to go on his first official date. The only trouble he ever seemed to get into at Liberty Christian was for chewing gum.
He was a football player, tagged to be the starting running back this season for the Minutemen. The same day he took his life, he participated in Liberty's final summer football practice and ran a 40-yard dash in less than 5 seconds.
That outward normalcy is part of what still troubles his parents, Bill and Kathy Cline, as well as the community at Liberty Christian.
"We were with him earlier in the day, working out in the weight room, and he seemed perfectly fine- for Matt, he seemed fine," said Liberty Christian football coach Andrew Reyes.
"The same loveable Matt, the same great attitude.
According to a police incident report acquired by the Cline family, the Huntington Beach Police Department dispatch received a call from Gutierrez (although her name is redacted) at 12:22 a.m. July 17.
The report states that, even though the screenshot of Cline's post on iFunny was sent to the police, dispatchers could not locate it within the application. The police then turned to Facebook, but according to the report, they could only find a Matthew Cline listed as a senior at Cal State Long Beach. They ruled out this Matthew Cline because his photo on Facebook did not appear to match the iFunny photo.
Through a database called I/Leads, they found the correct Matthew Cline and his address, although they couldn't confirm it. According to the report, the officer attempted to call the number listed on I/Leads "2-3" times, but the calls were unanswered.
Cline family members said they received no calls. The Huntington Beach Police Department did not disclose the phone number that was called.
According to Lt. Mitchell O'Brien, the Police Department's spokesman, there is no specific procedure for handling such a case, dealing with social media and suicide, but even the guidelines available in the department's policy manual don't fit the situation.
According to the manual, a "police officer or parking control officer, dependent on the incident, will be dispatched to all calls requesting police service. If there is a question as to whether the calling party is requesting that a police officer come to the scene, they shall be questioned about it specifically for clarification."
One line in the police report particularly haunts the Cline family.
It states that with two possible addresses listed where a Matthew Cline from Huntington Beach lived, the Huntington Beach Police Department decided not to send out an officer.
"We just wanted a chance," Bill Cline said. "He was our world."
The Clines say they have a simple question: When the police had their address, why wasn't an officer sent to their house?
"Bottom line is he reached out for help and somebody did everything in her power to help," Kathy Cline said. "It was a failure by the adults. That's the saddest thing. A knock on the door, and Matt would be alive. We could have got him help."
O'Brien said the decision to dispatch an officer ultimately comes down to a judgment call.
"We take threats of suicide very seriously ... but it really comes down to, do we have a call for service and do we have a place to go?"
The officer who handled the call from Gutierrez is "beyond upset" about Cline's death, he added.
"You can post on iFunny at any location in the country," O'Brien said, "They weren't satisfied that the person on iFunny was the Huntington Beach resident."
O'Brien also said that the police were not pursuing any charges against the Clines under California Penal Code Section 25100 - the criminal storage of a firearm in the first degree. That charge is used when a "person keeps any loaded firearm within any premises that are under the person's custody or control... the person knows or reasonably should know that a child is likely to gain access to the fireman without the permission of the child's parent or legal guardian."
It also applies when "the child obtains access to the firearm and thereby causes death or great bodily injury to the child or any other person."
Matthew Cline shot himself with his family's gun. His parents say they kept it secure and unloaded in their bedroom.
"We have our firearm and ammunition for it," Kathy Cline said. "The firearm is under the bed and the ammunition is in the closet. It is in our bedroom and it is locked, and you need a key to get in."
Ana Gutierrez once lost a friend to suicide. At one point, she said, she considered suicide herself.
Therapy and family support helped her get past those feelings, but she said she still struggles with what happened to Matthew Cline and how she fits into it.
"It's a hard thing to think about or talk about," Gutierrez said.
She's still questioning whether she did enough to save Cline from 300 miles away. The Cline family and their friends say she shouldn't question herself.
"She might be feeling guilt that she didn't do enough," said a Cline neighbor, Kesha Buhman.
"She needs to know she did more than anyone did."
Matthew Cline would have turned 18 today.
While skimming through a social media phone application called iFunny, she saw a cry for help. On a site normally used to post comedic pictures, Matthew Cline wrote he would be committing suicide that night.
Gutierrez, a 17-year-old high school student from Los Banos in Northern California, took action. Not knowing who Cline was or where he lived, she called a local suicide hotline, but was told that without the boy's location nothing could be done. If she could find out where he lived, she was told, she should call the local police department.
After a little searching, Gutierrez found a direct link to Cline's Facebook account on his profile at iFunny. She reached out through Facebook and, to her surprise, he accepted a friend request almost immediately. With access to his profile, she found out he lived in Huntington Beach and attended Liberty Christian School in the same city.
Gutierrez's next call was to the Huntington Beach Police Department. She sent the police the iFunny post through e-mail and directed them to Cline's Facebook page. Gutierrez spoke to a female officer, who told her that the Facebook page was open on her computer and that she would do everything she could.
The next day, Gutierrez was relieved to see that Cline was on iFunny again, saying he didn't go through with his plan.
The police must have reached him, Gutierrez thought; he's OK now.
The truth was that the police didn't get to him, and he wasn't OK. The next night Cline shot and killed himself.
Matthew Cline was quiet, a little shy and polite. At 17, he had yet to go on his first official date. The only trouble he ever seemed to get into at Liberty Christian was for chewing gum.
He was a football player, tagged to be the starting running back this season for the Minutemen. The same day he took his life, he participated in Liberty's final summer football practice and ran a 40-yard dash in less than 5 seconds.
That outward normalcy is part of what still troubles his parents, Bill and Kathy Cline, as well as the community at Liberty Christian.
"We were with him earlier in the day, working out in the weight room, and he seemed perfectly fine- for Matt, he seemed fine," said Liberty Christian football coach Andrew Reyes.
"The same loveable Matt, the same great attitude.
According to a police incident report acquired by the Cline family, the Huntington Beach Police Department dispatch received a call from Gutierrez (although her name is redacted) at 12:22 a.m. July 17.
The report states that, even though the screenshot of Cline's post on iFunny was sent to the police, dispatchers could not locate it within the application. The police then turned to Facebook, but according to the report, they could only find a Matthew Cline listed as a senior at Cal State Long Beach. They ruled out this Matthew Cline because his photo on Facebook did not appear to match the iFunny photo.
Through a database called I/Leads, they found the correct Matthew Cline and his address, although they couldn't confirm it. According to the report, the officer attempted to call the number listed on I/Leads "2-3" times, but the calls were unanswered.
Cline family members said they received no calls. The Huntington Beach Police Department did not disclose the phone number that was called.
According to Lt. Mitchell O'Brien, the Police Department's spokesman, there is no specific procedure for handling such a case, dealing with social media and suicide, but even the guidelines available in the department's policy manual don't fit the situation.
According to the manual, a "police officer or parking control officer, dependent on the incident, will be dispatched to all calls requesting police service. If there is a question as to whether the calling party is requesting that a police officer come to the scene, they shall be questioned about it specifically for clarification."
One line in the police report particularly haunts the Cline family.
It states that with two possible addresses listed where a Matthew Cline from Huntington Beach lived, the Huntington Beach Police Department decided not to send out an officer.
"We just wanted a chance," Bill Cline said. "He was our world."
The Clines say they have a simple question: When the police had their address, why wasn't an officer sent to their house?
"Bottom line is he reached out for help and somebody did everything in her power to help," Kathy Cline said. "It was a failure by the adults. That's the saddest thing. A knock on the door, and Matt would be alive. We could have got him help."
O'Brien said the decision to dispatch an officer ultimately comes down to a judgment call.
"We take threats of suicide very seriously ... but it really comes down to, do we have a call for service and do we have a place to go?"
The officer who handled the call from Gutierrez is "beyond upset" about Cline's death, he added.
"You can post on iFunny at any location in the country," O'Brien said, "They weren't satisfied that the person on iFunny was the Huntington Beach resident."
O'Brien also said that the police were not pursuing any charges against the Clines under California Penal Code Section 25100 - the criminal storage of a firearm in the first degree. That charge is used when a "person keeps any loaded firearm within any premises that are under the person's custody or control... the person knows or reasonably should know that a child is likely to gain access to the fireman without the permission of the child's parent or legal guardian."
It also applies when "the child obtains access to the firearm and thereby causes death or great bodily injury to the child or any other person."
Matthew Cline shot himself with his family's gun. His parents say they kept it secure and unloaded in their bedroom.
"We have our firearm and ammunition for it," Kathy Cline said. "The firearm is under the bed and the ammunition is in the closet. It is in our bedroom and it is locked, and you need a key to get in."
Ana Gutierrez once lost a friend to suicide. At one point, she said, she considered suicide herself.
Therapy and family support helped her get past those feelings, but she said she still struggles with what happened to Matthew Cline and how she fits into it.
"It's a hard thing to think about or talk about," Gutierrez said.
She's still questioning whether she did enough to save Cline from 300 miles away. The Cline family and their friends say she shouldn't question herself.
"She might be feeling guilt that she didn't do enough," said a Cline neighbor, Kesha Buhman.
"She needs to know she did more than anyone did."
Matthew Cline would have turned 18 today.