Louis Johnson 5th grade boy wrongful death lawsuit: Ocala, Florida parents allege Marion County School Board failed to stop teacher, Donna ‘Dawn’ White from relentlessly bullying boy who then shot self dead. Did a school fail a 11 year old boy?
The family of a 11 year old 5th grade boy have filed a lawsuit against a Florida school and his former teacher, arguing that their son took his own life after relentless bullying from the educator and the school’s failure to put a stop to the abuse.
Louis Johnson, 11, shot himself ‘after enduring months of bullying and public embarrassment’ from fifth-grade teacher Donna White, according to the lawsuit filed by the boy’s parents against the Marion County School Board on April 21.
White, a former teacher at Legacy Elementary School in Ocala, called Johnson ‘stupid’ and said he ‘didn’t know anything,’ along with allegedly recruiting other students to bully the boy, according to the wrongful death lawsuit documents, as cited by WCBJ.
5th grade Ocala teacher Donna ‘Dawn’ White
‘I don’t know why you’re talking because you don’t even know anything. You don’t know nothing in this class. Isn’t that right, kids?’ White told Johnson, the lawsuit alleged.
Johnson’s parents claim repeatedly reporting White’s actions to the school and the school board, only for them to fail to act, claiming ‘negligence’ to put a stop to the bullying, according to the lawsuit.
White’s actions caused Johnson to suffer from depression and anxiety, culminating in him attempting to take his own life on April 27, 2023, court documents state.
Johnson died two days later in the hospital from his injuries, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Johnson’s parents handed out suicide prevention fliers in the school following their son’s death, laying out more allegations against White.
The lawsuit names the teacher as Donna White, but the flyer produced by Johnson’s parents, as well as school district records, list her as Dawn White.
White started working in the school district in 2009, where she taught at Legacy Elementary, moving to other schools before returning to Legacy for a second spell as a fourth-grade teacher between 2017 and 2021 and a third and final spell between 2022 and 2023, the Ocala Star Banner reported at the time.
Did the Marion County School board fail an 11 year old boy?
The family moved to Ocala, an hour outside of Orlando, from Virginia shortly before Johnson’s death.
Their son had no behavioral problems and had been happy until he moved to Florida, Detective Nick Sutliff, who interviewed the parents at the time, told the Ocala Star Banner.
The couple own firearms which they kept in a combination gun safe locked in their master bedroom and to which their son didn’t know the code, Sutliff said.
But on April 27, Johnson’s father, Louis Johnson Jr., had taken his son to work with him on his food truck, and when they arrived home, he placed the handgun, a 9mm Ruger, on the counter.
While he was outside checking that his truck had power, the parent heard a gunshot, and rushed back in to see his son bleeding and called 911, Sutliff said.
More than two dozen students were interviewed about White’s behavior for an investigative report in June 2023, as reported by WCJB at the time.
White would get furious when students got answers wrong and sometimes reduced them to tears, according to the report.
White’s ‘verbally insulting, humiliating, and embarrassing students’ inflicted psychological distress on her victims, the report concluded.
Marion County Public Schools did not renew White’s contract following the investigation.
