A 74-year-old substitute teacher was brutally beaten by a six foot two student weighing 280 pounds in Indiana earlier this month.
Rob Gooding was serving as a substitute at Perry Meridian High School in Indianapolis on February 1 when the student hit him with a laptop, beat him to the ground and punched him in the face.
Paramedics swiftly arrived on scene to treat Gooding’s substantial facial injuries, and Gooding told a school resource officer who arrived with the emergency crews he wanted his attacker arrested and prosecuted.
However, Gooding alleges, school officials refused to allow the arrest because they had been instructed by the district to do so.
‘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 told WISHTV, revealing the prominent injury on his forearm.
‘This man child was 6-feet-2, 280 pounds,’ he said.
‘He hovered over me and with his left hand, whammed me,’ Gooding added.
The teacher said he immediately asked for the student to be arrested, but was told the arrest was prevented by the school district.
‘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.
‘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.’
Gooding says he still believes charges should be filed against the student.
‘He has to be accountable for his actions and that’s what I feel,’ he said.
Hellbound and Down 