INDIANAPOLIS -- A former Indianapolis Public Schools teacher has officially been charged by the Marion County Prosecutor's Office after he reportedly filmed a fight between students at George Washington Carver Montessori IPS School No. 87.
According to a news release from the Marion County Prosecutor's Office, Julious Johnican has been charged with one count of neglect of a dependent, a Level 6 felony, in relation to the altercation.
This comes after a lawsuit was filed against IPS in Marion County Superior Court, claiming that a 7-year-old student was filmed being punched, slapped and slammed to the floor in 2023. Officials said that Johnican filmed the incident on his cell phone and encouraged the students to continue.
According to previous reports, the lawsuit stated that the teacher allowed the student to be beaten in class on multiple occasions.
“Schools should be safe spaces for our children to learn and grow and Mr. Johnican’s alleged conduct jeopardized that,” Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said in the release. “As parents, we place trust in our teachers and the adults in power to keep our children safe and there should be serious consequences when they fail to meet that standard and engage in or encourage dangerous behavior.”
The Indiana Department of Education is also investigating the incident, reviewing the allegations against Johnican, according to previous reports.
What do the court documents say?
On April 18, a detective with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department was assigned a child neglect investigation surrounding incidents at George Washington Carver Montessori IPS School No. 87 between late September 2023 and October 2023.
Officials with the Indiana Department of Child Services provided IMPD with a video that allegedly shows a student hitting another student in the chest, back, head and face. In the video, an adult, who police allege is Johnican, is heard encouraging the student to hit the other student.
"That's right... you get him," the adult who police allege is Johnican said to the student in the video.
In an interview, an IPS paralegal told detectives that Johnican was an emergency permitted teacher who was hired during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paralegal told police that one of the students involved in the altercation reportedly had a "long history of behavior issues" and the video was recorded for the parents to see what was happening in the classroom.
"(The paralegal) explained obviously that is not what happened and Mr. Johnican should have never recorded them in the first place," the documents said.
The paralegal claimed that Johnican willingly showed the student's parents the video, who then reported it to the school. Johnican was placed on administrative leave and then was recommended for termination within four days. Johnican then reportedly resigned on his own.
In an interview on April 24, the student's mother claimed that she, along with the student's father, was accidentally shown the video of the fight. Johnican reportedly meant to show them a video of what the classroom environment looked like, but accidentally pulled up the video of the altercation.
"(The mother) stated she only saw the video for 10 seconds before attempting to grab the phone from the teacher," the documents read. "She stated as she was doing that, she could hear the teacher in the video (encouraging the fight)."
In an interview with the student, the documents said he recounted multiple incidents where Johnican reportedly allowed another student to hit him. In other incidents, the student said that Johnican used his hands to grab the student in the ribs area and allowed another student to hit him. The student also recounted the incident that was captured on video on the cell phone.
On May 3, detectives requested and were granted a search warrant for Johnican's phone. When detectives spoke with Johnican's attorney, he said Johnican was still in possession of the cell phone and intended on surrendering it. However, the attorney said that Johnican was living in East Chicago at the time and did not have transportation.
Detectives reached out to Johnican's attorney on May 16 and May 22 about the cell phone, as well as a statement from Johnican about the allegations. The attorney said he had not had time to meet with Johnican to surrender the phone or talk about whether or not he would be making a statement.
"(The detective) stated at this time he would be submitting the case for screening, because he believes he has provided Mr. Johnican several opportunities to decide whether or not he would participate in a recorded statement," the documents read.
In a statement from Indianapolis Public Schools, officials said they are aware of the charges against Johnican.
"The district will continue to comply with any and all investigations concerning this case," the statement reads.