A college student has died after stepping into oncoming traffic on an Ohio interstate, in what his family and community advocates describe as a suicide linked to the shame and bullying he faced over a government-issued ankle monitor.
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Pierre Damas Bel, 20, was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer on Interstate 70 in Clark County on Monday, August 31, just eight days after starting his freshman year at Wright State University. The Ohio State Highway Patrol confirmed his death and said the incident remains under investigation.
Bel was a Haitian immigrant, a recent honors graduate, and had planned to study physiology and neuroscience with the goal of eventually attending medical school. According to his family and local advocates, the weeks leading up to his death were marked by growing distress tied to a GPS ankle monitor that immigration officials had required him to wear. Bel had come to the United States under Temporary Protected Status, a federal program that allowed hundreds of thousands of Haitians to live and work in the country legally. That protection ended in late July, when the Trump administration terminated TPS for Haiti, a decision that affected more than 300,000 people nationwide.
In the weeks that followed, Immigration and Customs Enforcement began summoning Haitian immigrants in the Springfield, Ohio area to mandatory in-person check-ins. According to reporting from theGrio, those who appeared were given two options: accept deportation to Haiti along with a $2,600 payment, or agree to wear an ankle monitor restricting them to a 75-mile radius of their residence unless granted permission to travel further.
Bel chose to stay and continue his education. He had enrolled at Wright State on August 24 to study physiology and neuroscience, with plans to eventually attend medical school, according to the Springfield News-Sun. He wore the ankle monitor throughout his first days on campus. His father, Pierre Ronal Bel, said in a statement that his son endured mockery from classmates who noticed the device, and that the experience took a visible toll on him.
Bel reportedly stopped wearing his JROTC uniform and pulled back from soccer, a sport he had played competitively enough to be recruited by the university.
On July 30, roughly a month before his death, Bel posted about the ankle monitor on Instagram. In the post, he wrote that he had come to the United States to pursue an education, not to commit a crime or hurt anyone, and described carrying a sense of shame and humiliation he had never expected to experience.
On the morning he died, Bel called his father on a video call at approximately 8:03 a.m., telling him he was not feeling mentally well because of the bullying he had faced. His father told him to come home so they could talk. Officers arrived at the family’s door roughly three hours later. In a separate statement, Bel’s father said his son had been made to feel as though he were being treated like an animal.
Springfield has drawn national attention to its Haitian community before, becoming the focus of unfounded claims during the 2024 presidential election. Since TPS ended, ICE enforcement activity in the area has increased, with several Haitian immigrants detained, including two pastors, and dozens more fitted with ankle monitors similar to the one Bel wore. The Department of Homeland Security has not responded publicly to requests for comment on Bel’s death.
His family is now planning a funeral for a son who, eight days into his college career, had been pursuing a future in medicine before his death.
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, you can call or text 988 anytime to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or visit 988lifeline.org for support.