Trial under way for lawsuit against CPS on behalf of boy beaten with belts

CHICAGO (CBS) -- In U.S. District Court the civil case of Chicago Public Schools student who was beaten with belts at school has gone to trial before a jury.

Jo'Maury Champ's family sued the Chicago Public Schools for what happened to the fourth grader after officials let an unauthorized person into the school.

The suit claims his teacher at the time gave the person two leather belts, which were used to beat him inside the school because he had misbehaved in class.

"The lady, she told me to pull down my pants, but I didn't," Jo'Maury told the CBS News Chicago Investigators back in 2018. "So she got mad, and she started whacking me with the two belts… [on] my legs and my back."

Jo'Maury was 9 when the CBS News Chicago Investigators first interviewed him. He had just been beaten with belts outside his classroom in a school bathroom at George W. Tilton Elementary School, at 223 N. Keeler Ave. on Chicago's West Side.

Jo'Maury said he was left in pain. His back had welts.

"I was screaming and crying, and I was saying that I wanted my mama," Jomaury told CBS News Chicago back when he was 9, "and then she whacked me some more times, and she told me she was my mama."

Jomaury is now 15, and a federal jury has listened to him tell his story.

Police responded to Jomaury's home later that night, when his parents called them to report the beating. CPS is accused of allowing an unauthorized person—an estranged aunt whom Jomaury said he didn't know—into the school.

Jo'Maury's family said his teacher , Kristen Haynes, was friends with the aunt. The family said Haynes gave the aunt the belts because Jomaury had been acting up in class.

A jury will decide if CPS is responsible for Jomaury's injuries and emotional trauma.

Jo'Maury's former teacher denies the allegations. CPS relieved the teacher of her duties, but said the teacher is still fighting her dismissal.

The estranged aunt, Juanita Tyler, was convicted for her role in the belt beating.   CPS would not comment on pending litigation. The trial is expected to last another week.