Rob Gooding, Indianapolis substitute teacher savagely beaten by 6ft’2, 280 lb student, as the school pushed not to have the boy arrested or charged as the educator now demands charges be brought against the teen at Meridian High School.
An Indiana school has caused furore after declining to move forward and bring charges against a 6ft’2, 280 pound student after the 18 year old ‘man-child’ assaulted a 74 year old substitute teacher, leaving him battered and with a black eye.
Rob Gooding, of Indianapolis, told News 8 he was serving as a substitute at Perry Meridian High School on February 1 when an unruly student suddenly approached him during a business class.
School administrators forbid having student arrested
The teen — who Gooding claims stood over 6 feet — raised his Chromebook and was poised to crash it down on his head.
‘I saw him come up, and he said, ‘I’ve had it,’ and he came down and I blocked the Chromebook. That’s where the hole was,’ Gooding said, pointing to a wound on his forearm.
‘This man child was 6-feet-2, 280 pounds,’ he said.
The student then shoved the elderly instructor to the ground and proceeded to pummel the educator in front of shocked students.
‘He hovered over me and with his left hand whammed me,’ Gooding told News 8.
Paramedics rushed to the scene and found the dazed teacher with a knot on his forehead and a black eye. Gooding demanded his assailant be arrested and prosecuted only to be told by an attending school resource officer that school administrators forbade him from arresting the boy.
School claims student was disciplined internally
‘Then he said to me, ‘We have been instructed by the higher-ups, which is the district, not to handcuff, or arrest the kid,’ and I said, ‘What?’ and he said, ‘Yes, that came from the higher-ups,” Gooding said.
School officials told News 8 that they were unable to comment on what, if any, disciplinary measures were taken against the teen.
‘Perry Police responded to the incident quickly,’ read a statement from the Perry Township School District. ‘A police report was forwarded to the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office. Prosecutors will then make a criminal charge decision.’
But weeks later Gooding said he hasn’t been contacted by any party concerning the case.
‘He has to be accountable for his actions and that’s what I feel,’ Gooding stated.
Ongoing attacks against teachers
Attacks on teachers by students have become increasingly common, with sometimes lethal consequences.
A beloved Texas teacher’s aide died this month after he was pushed to the ground and struck his head.
Fred Jimenez, 73, was buried this past Sunday after serving at a San Antonio High School for more than a decade.
The educator’s wife of 25 years, Margo Jimenez said that school administrators downplayed the incident to her, never relaying that he had been pushed.
In another case recent case, a 15-year-old Ohio high school student allegedly punched a teacher in the head after hitting a vape — leaving her with a ‘severe brain injury’ that required the removal of her skullcap.
The Indiana case mirrors that of another student who is now awaiting sentencing after the 17 year old, 6ft’ 6, 270 pound student admitted beating a Florida teacher last year after taking his Nintendo Switch game. The teacher in that episode was left with five broken ribs, a concussion and hearing loss along with ongoing psychological woes.
A survey of nearly 15,000 pre-k-12 teachers from 2020 to 2021 found that one-third of teachers reported that they had experienced at least one incident of verbal harassment or a threat of violence from students during the period.
In 2020, 10 percent of teachers reported that students had threatened them with injury.
Another six percent reported that a student had physically attacked them.
