An Indianapolis elementary school teacher has been accused of running "fight club type" beatdowns, including egging on classmates to pummel a 7-year-old special needs student, according to a report.
The family of the boy, whose disabilities qualify for a "higher level of supervision and safety," filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Marion Superior Court against the George Washington Carver Montessori IPS School 87 and the teacher, identified as Julious Johnican, FOX 59 reported.
The boy's mom alerted school officials to the beatings after her son, who has "sensory sensitivities, an executive function disorder, and probable learning disabilities," told her about how he was punched, slapped and slammed to the floor at the encouragement of the teacher.
But the mom, who was not identified in the report, said the school ignored her accusations for months until the video, recorded by the teacher, surfaced showing the attacks on her son.
The mom said the teacher operated a "reprehensible 'fight club' type for punishment inside the classroom in which he "encouraged" and "instigated" the thrashing of her son.
In one case, she alleges, Johnican held the boy down so other students could pound on him.
In the shocking video, which Johnican mistakenly played during a parent-teacher conference in November, showed another student attacking the second grader.
"Don't mess with me," the child says to the crying 7-year-old, as he punches the child in the head and face.
Johnican, who was recording the brutal encounter, doesn't stop the beatdown.
"You guys done?" he asks in the video. "That's right. You get him."
Near the end of the video, the attacking student says: "I'm gonna get him again."
"I know you want to get him when he does things," Johnican responds.
Johnican told state Department of Child Services investigators that the two students were sometimes friends, but they had "many negative engagements."
He told DCS officials that he had run out of patience during the beating and decided to capture it on video "to have proof of what was happening."
The school district told FOX 59 that it "does not tolerate the type of behavior alleged in the complaint."
It said when school officials learned of the teacher's behavior, they contacted DCS, removed him permanently from the classroom and suspended him.
The district said Johnican resigned before the school could begin the process of terminating him.
