IMPD opens investigation into video showing special needs student being beaten at IPS school

INDIANAPOLIS – Indianapolis Metropolitan police are now investigating alleged abuse at an IPS school after a teacher recorded video of a student attacking a classmate.

FOX59/CBS4 broke the story on Wednesday. The family of a student filed a civil lawsuit against Indianapolis Public Schools, naming the district, the teacher and administrators as defendants.

The lawsuit stemmed from a video recorded by teacher Julious Johnican that was inadvertently seen by a parent. The woman’s special needs son had been scared to go to school for weeks, telling his mother other students were beating him up in class at the encouragement of the teacher.

The boy attended George Washington Carver Montessori IPS School 87.

The woman’s attempts to bring the matter to the school’s attention fell on deaf ears, with the teacher telling her that her son was lying and making the whole thing up. Then, the mother saw the video, leading to an investigation by the Indiana Department of Child Services, according to the lawsuit.

The video, recorded by Johnican, showed the teacher encouraging another student to beat up the special needs student, who cries as he’s being assaulted.

IPS said it wasn’t aware that a teacher was encouraging or sanctioning fights until late October. Johnican resigned before he could be fired, the district said. He was removed from the school and suspended once the allegations came to light.

The district said it reached out to DCS per protocol; because the case had been turned over to an investigative body, IPS police didn’t launch their own investigation.

IMPD opened its investigation at the request of the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office this week. Neither IMPD nor the prosecutor’s office were aware of the case before we reached out. They believe the case should’ve been handled by IPS police.

Again, IPS said it had already turned the case over to DCS, which substantiated the family’s claims. The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office is now checking to see how many times IPS police have completed an investigation and referred a case to prosecutors.

Here’s the IPS statement on the matter:

IPS does not tolerate the type of behavior alleged in the complaint and takes reports of potential abuse and neglect seriously. When IPS learned of the teacher’s conduct, the Department of Child Services (DCS) was immediately notified, and the teacher was removed from the classroom and suspended. The teacher had no further contact with students and is no longer employed by IPS.

• IPS was not aware of any fights encouraged or sanctioned by this or any other teacher from the student’s parents or otherwise, until the parent emailed the principal at 6:58 p.m. Oct. 30.
• The principal first viewed this email early morning the next day (Oct 31), and immediately contacted DCS and IPS Human Resources.
• The teacher was immediately removed from the building and never returned to the classroom.

Indianapolis Public Schools

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