Report Issued in Suicide of Portsmouth High School Football Player

Report Issued in Suicide of Portsmouth High School Football Player

Portsmouth School officials released a 118-page report conducted by a Providence attorney into the suicide death of a 15-year-old Portsmouth high school football player.

The charge to Attorney Matthew Oliverio was to investigate what led to Nathan Bruno’s death.

“In summary, Mr. Bruno [father of Nathan] contends that Head Football Coach Ryan Moniz, Principal Joseph Amaral and Athletic Director Steven Trezvant intentionally or unintentionally placed an undue amount of mental and emotional stress upon his son in the weeks and days leading up to his tragic death causing the 15-year-old Nathan to feel isolated, shamed and bullied to the point where his only escape from the pressure was to end his life on February 7, 2018,” wrote Oliverio.

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“The scope of my investigation was to determine if any teacher, coach, staff member or member of the administration violated any current policies, procedures and protocols in their interactions with Nathan, and in particular those interactions with Nathan once it was determined that he was involved in a pattern of harassing conduct directed toward Coach Moniz. My assignment was not to determine the cause of Nathan's death, although officially it has been ruled a suicide,” wrote Oliverio in the report.

The report outlines a massive number of failures and finds fault with Moniz, “Perhaps the most egregious conduct occurred during the course of the team meeting later that day, described in great detail throughout this report. The reality is that Coach Moniz was short, angry and upset with his team. He was well aware that the vast majority of his student/athletes viewed him as a ‘father-figure,’ with trust, confidence, and respect; where winning was paramount. He was by all accounts a tough taskmaster, and those athletes would follow his lead and do as he asked. When he threatened to resign and abandon the team, leaving the room to have them "figure it out," he knew or should have known that such an unwelcomed consequence, resignation, would have evoked action on the part of those trusting athletes.”

According to the report, “Though Coach Moniz did not verbally communicate that the team should use any means, including a visit to Nathan's home to 'figure it out,' the implied message was the same. He used his position of power, authority and influence over emotionally-charged adolescent students to resolve an adult problem -- Coach Moniz's problem, not the team's problem. In so doing, he knew or should have known that he was causing a schism between members of the team, Nathan and Nathan's friends, and he manipulated those relationships to satisfy his own personal interests, despite the fact that Nathan had stepped forward and was willing to take responsibility.”

Oliverio’s report goes on to make a number of recommendations — none of them call for the dismissal of any of the coaches or administrators involved in events tied to Bruno’s death.

Recommendations include:

- Refrain from reappointing Mr. Moniz from serving in any capacity as a coach in the Portsmouth School District for the 2018-19 school year, and until such time as he receives appropriate training, at the Superintendent's discretion, so that he may successfully comport himself to the Coaches' Code of Conduct, the purpose of which through good role modeling is to promote positive experiences in a safe environment and to assist student-athletes with important life skills and the development of good character.

- Have counseling with and issue a reprimand to Steven Trezvant for his knowledge, involvement and failure to properly supervise Mr. Moniz as it relates to the February 6, 2018 team meeting. He should similarly be referred for appropriate training, preferably before the commencement of the fall 2018 sports season.

- Despite the existence of a fairly robust professional development curriculum for staff and educational programming for students which raises awareness of psychological, social and emotional stressors that impact student behaviors and decision-making, a district-wide review, audit and assessment, along with additional staff training, should be undertaken in an effort to avoid or reduce the adverse consequences to students associated with their interactions among other students, teachers, coaches, staff and administrators employed in the Portsmouth School District