Remembering Audrie & Daisy: Part Two
The Pain that Does Not Fade
Daisy Coleman was just 12 years old when the car she was travelling in with one of her three brothers and father, Michael, crashed. The accident would claim the life of her father. It was on January 8 of 2012 when, much like Audrie, Daisy and some friends went to a party with alcohol present. The gathering spiraled out of control when 15-year-old Daisy and her 13-year-old friend became intoxicated, and older boys at the party noticed. Both girls reported being raped at the party. Daisy named then 17-year-old Matthew Barnett as her attacker. A third boy filmed the assault and it soon spread throughout the community’s youth population. In the freezing, early morning January hours, while Daisy was still incoherent and badly bruised, her attacker dumped her on her front lawn in only a t-shirt.
The media circus and community harassment that would follow would prompt the family to move to a new home in a new town. Like Audrie, Daisy and her family faced ridicule and shaming. Daisy’s mother Melinda, the family’s sole provider, was even fired from her veterinarian job. Matthew Barnett, the grandson of a former Republican state representative, was arrested and charged with felony sexual assault, which was later dropped and led to a lesser, misdemeanor charge of endangerment of a minor. He was ultimately sentenced to four months in jail, which was commuted to just two years’ probation, and was forced to pay $1,800 to Coleman in restitution. (1) Throughout the remainder of her teen years, the aftermath of the assaults would cause Daisy to not only leave school, but turn to self-harm and suicide attempts. Her brother Charlie recalled one occasion when he found Daisy unconscious on the floor beside an empty bottle of pills, “I got her to the hospital... I threw her over my shoulder and sprinted out the door, and she ended up being alright," Charlie Coleman said. "That was probably one of the most scariest moments of my life." (2)
From the beginning, Daisy fought to have her story told, naysayers be damned. As a young woman, Daisy interviewed with countless awareness groups, news and media outlets, as well as telling her story on any internet forum that would listen. In 2017, she co-founded the sexual assault prevention organization, SafeBAE, or Safe Before Anyone Else, with other survivors and advocates, as well as her brother Charlie. Charlie said of this time in his sister’s life, “She literally turned herself into a walking billboard to make sure that crap didn’t happen to somebody else while she was grieving her own thing. She was selfless with it.” (3)
Daisy eventually relocated to Colorado as a young adult, and began a career as a tattoo artist and model, while still advocating the cause. She seemed to thrive in the new environment, making new friends. In 2019, Daisy and Charlie were invited by Queen Silvia of Sweden to speak at the open assembly of the United Nations.
Despite helping countless others with her story, the trauma of her assault and subsequent harassment troubled Daisy greatly. The pros and cons of being in the media eye became abundantly clear when Daisy became suspicious that she had a stalker. Throughout her journey, the criticism and shaming had never ceased, but rather, had lay in wait. In addition to the heartache she already lived in, Daisy lost her younger brother Tristan in a car crash in 2018 On August 4, 2020, Daisy took her own life while living in Colorado, at the age of just 23. Her mother Melinda, devastated and lost, would follow Daisy just four months later.
Stories like those of Audrie Pott and Daisy Coleman are painful, but must be told. Though not with us, these young woman lend their names and faces to other victims around the world, inspiring sexual assault victims to speak out. Daisy’s surviving brothers, Charlie and Logan Coleman carry on the fight she started, and keep her name alive.
(3) https://amp.kansascity.com/news/business/health-care/article246121035.html
Written By: Alice.in.londini.land
