Teacher encourages 6-year-old to fight student, then films it, cops say. He’s charged
A former elementary school teacher faces criminal charges after he was accused of recording a student beating his classmate and encouraging the fight, Indiana officials said.
Julious Johnican, 23, was charged on May 29 with neglect of a dependent because he failed to stop a fight in his classroom during which one 6-year-old “battered” another, according to a news release from the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.
McClatchy News reached out to Johnican’s attorney May 29 for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Officials said the former teacher at George Washington Carver Montessori IPS #87 “filmed the incident on his cellphone and encouraged one of the students to engage further.”
“That’s right (name), you get him,” a man’s voice can be heard on the video, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Court records show Johnican was an “emergency permitted teacher” hired during the COVID pandemic, and not fully certified.
The video of the 2023 incident, 1 minute and 33 seconds long, shows one student on top of another, striking him “several times in the chest, back, head, and face areas,” court records show.
The mother of the victim became aware of the fight because of a slip-up by Johnican, court records show.
During a parent-teacher conference in November, police said Johnican intended to play a video showing the “classroom environment,” but instead showed 10 seconds of a video of a student pulling her son to the ground and beating him, according to the affidavit.
The victim’s family filed a lawsuit on April 16 against the Indianapolis Public Schools, Johnican, and other faculty and staff, McClatchy News previously reported.
Johnican is due back in court for an initial hearing June 4, court records show.
This story was originally published May 30, 2024 at 8:50 AM with the headline "Teacher encourages 6-year-old to fight student, then films it, cops say. He’s charged."
