His roommate, Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old freshman, killed himself in September 2010 by jumping off the George Washington Bridge, which spans the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey, after learning that Ravi had secretly spied on his sexual encounter with another man.
The most serious charges in the case centered on whether Ravi's actions had constituted bias intimidation, meaning that he was motivated to inspire fear in Clementi because of his sexual orientation.