Mother of seven-year-old schoolboy attacked in classroom 'fight club' as teacher filmed them breaks silence to blast school after teachers accused her son of lying about being bullied

A mother whose special needs son was attacked in class while a teacher egged on the fight and recorded it has spoken out for the first time since the video went viral.

Corrie Horan, the mother of a seven-year-old student at Washington Carver Montessori UPS School 87, spoke with the local Indianapolis Fox station, about her son's horrifying experience.

'Every child deserves to learn in an environment that is safe and nurturing. I am committed to ensuring that the tragedy my child endured serves as a wake-up call for all involved in our education system. 

'It is my deepest hope that this painful episode leads to significant changes that will protect countless other children from ever experiencing similar harm or having to go through what our family did. This is not just about my child; it’s about all the children in our schools,' she said.

The story of the unhinged child fight club first began circulating two weeks ago, when it was revealed that the family had filed a civil lawsuit against Indianapolis Public Schools alleging that the child was beaten on several occasions in class.

One such incident was recorded on a cell phone by Julious Johnican, the child's teacher, who can be heard in the background not just failing to intervene, but spurring on the attacker.

For weeks, the boy told his mother he was afraid to go to school because of what he was facing in the classroom.

When the mother contacted the school repeatedly to try to get answers, she was told her son was lying.

Attorneys for the family say their case draws a sharp line under the critical issues that exist within the Indiana school system. The case is in part being used to lobby for policy changes that will theoretically work to prevent this sort of abuse from occurring.

Public school system officials said they reported the abuse, as they're meant to, to the Department of Child Services as soon as they learned of the video.

Attorneys for Horan and her son, however, saw Horan discussed her serious concerns about Johnican with the administrators  months before any action was taken.

In a statement from the attorneys, they accuse the administration of complacency the direct result of which was the endangerment of a vulnerable child.

Furthermore, they berated the school for allowing Johnican to resign, rather than terminating him, meaning that his teacher's license remains active and he is still, at this time, allowed to instruct children in a classroom. 

'Our client brought serious concerns regarding Julious Johnican’s classroom to the attention of an IPS school administrator as early as September 2023. Despite this report, our investigation revealed no follow-up was initiated, no contact with the Department of Child Services (DCS) occurred, and classroom supervision remained unchanged,' they wrote.

'It wasn’t until our client reported the video possessed by Johnican on November 1st, 2023, immediately after seeing it and demanding that DCS and the police be contacted, that the school finally reached out only to DCS.

'Rather than be terminated Johnican was simply allowed to resign. The situation with IPS is not just about delayed action. As of now, Johnican retains an active teaching license, and no entity, including IPS, has taken any action to attempt to revoke it. Without this crucial step, Johnican is free to teach anywhere in Indiana, posing a potential risk to more students.'

Horan filed the lawsuit after Johnican himself accidentally showed her footage of the assault on her child that he oversaw and encouraged.

In the footage, the attacker can be heard saying 'don't mess with me' while throwing punches as her son cries on the ground - and their second-grade teacher shouts 'you get him.'

The school, principal, vice principal, superintendent and school board are also named as defendants.

Outlining Johnican's 'fight club,' the suit reads: 'In this horrifying setup, Johnican not only permitted but incited and facilitated other students to engage in acts of violence against seven-year-old O.D. (Horan's son).'

It says the problems 'included at least three beatings and various forms of physical harm and bullying both for his own amusement or as a deeply disturbed disciplinary measure.'

'This systemic abuse occurred within the school premises and within O.D.’s classroom, a place where seven-year-old disabled O.D. should have been nurtured and protected, not subjected to repeated and organized violence,' the suit adds.

The lawsuit stresses Johnican encouraged behavior which went beyond 'mere pushing or shoving', by orchestrating 'physical assaults.'

'O.D. was thrown to the ground, struck, slapped and hit in the head repeatedly,' the suit says.

'On two occasions it is reported that he (Johnican) held O.D. while allowing other students to punch, hit, and kick him.'

Johnican also made 'continuous threats' to the boy and subjected him to 'deliberate humiliation,' according to his mother.

She said it led her child 'developing a profound anxiety specifically related to the school environment.' His grades fell and he began to 'plead' with her to let him skip school.

Substitute teacher Pardeep Dahliwal was also present in the classroom during the attacks.

On top of the alleged hostile campaign against her child by Johnican, the pupil was also subjected to discriminatory comments from another, unnamed teacher.

O.D. told his mother that 'a teacher working with Mr. Johnican said that special needs students were demonically possessed.'

The child said staff told him he was 'bad' and that 'holy water needed to be poured on him' to 'cure him of his evil.'

Horan said she arranged meetings with Johnican about her son's worries, but he 'dismissed' them and 'indicated that O.D. was lying or mentally ill.'

The teacher 'repeatedly suggested that O.D. was fabricating stories as part of an escalating effort to avoid attending school'.

Things reached a head on September 22, 2023, when the school called Horan telling her O.D. could not calm down and that she needed to speak with him on the phone.

She believed him to be experiencing hyperactivity, but said when he spoke to her he was 'hysterical.' Horan left work and drove to the school to find out what was happening, and found him 'upset, traumatized and shaken.'

The mom said when she got the classroom, her son and another pupil were looking at something on Johnican's phone but they 'immediately' put it away when she approached.

'The parent demanded to observe in the classroom and was allowed to stay for approximately 45 minutes, and during the entirety of her stay, no one from the School explained to her what had happened with her son’s behavior or the phone call she received,' her lawsuit says.

Her son walked her to the front school doors when she left - and 'he reported in tears to her that he that he was being abused in school.'

He said that 'on Johnican's instructions, another pupil had slammed his head down on a desk, pulled him to the floor, and then hit him repeatedly in the head'.

Horan spoke with vice-principal Finae Rent that day, but the employee did not follow up with an investigation or provide any additional information, the suit claims.

'She was repeatedly informed that it was her child who was disruptive, lying, and that this was a sign of a disordered personality in the child and related to his ADHD,' her lawsuit reads.

Horan said that 'tragically' she did not believe her own son's accounts of what was happening because they seemed so extreme and were refuted by the school, the family claims.

But this changed on November 1 when she met with Johnican for a parent-teacher conference and he accidentally showed her the fight video on his phone.

While attempting to show a video of the 'classroom environment', Johnican 'inadvertently began showing the wrong video, in this one the parents saw their child being attacked.'

Horan tried to grab his phone, and as he pulled it away he accidentally turned up the volume so that she could hear him 'instigating and encouraging the beating of their disabled seven-year-old child.'

The school secretary was informed and she contacted the Indiana Department of Child Services who launched an investigation.

Shockingly, the investigator said that when they questioned Principal Mary Kapcoe, who is also a defendant in the suit, she said substitute teacher Dahliwal defended the fights.

When asked about the allegations by Kapcoe, Dahliwal said of the children, several of whom have special needs: 'They're bad kids, that's what you do,' the suit claims.

The abuse was also reported by Horan's son to Anthony Bigby, the IPS Behavioral Consultant, but he took no action.

Horan's lawsuit also names Superintendent Aleesia Johnson for failing to protect her son from the harms of the school which was under her supervision.

'The relentless daily verbal threats, harassment, abuse and at least three documented and substantiated physical attacks and beatings instigated by his teacher had a catastrophic effect on O.D.’s mental well-being, leading to a marked deterioration in his emotional health,' Horan's lawsuit concludes.

'The environment created by IPS manifested in escalating symptoms of anxiety and depression, deeply affecting this disabled seven-year-old’s educational journey.'

She said the actions and inactions of the Indianapolis Public School Staff had 'resulted in profound psychological and emotional trauma' for her son.

Horan alleges discrimination, negligent care, negligent hiring, retention and supervision, and inadequate policies and protection against the school.

She is demanding a jury trial to get justice for her son, and asking for an unspecified amount of money.