5 school staffers charged after boy told to eat own vomit

BROWNSBURG, Ind. (AP) — Five staff members at a suburban Indianapolis school have been charged with neglect or failure to report neglect after a 7-year-old special education student was told to eat his own vomit.

The Hendricks County Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday charged a teacher and instructional aide at Brown Elementary School in Brownsburg with neglect and they as well as a second teacher, a second aide and a behavioral technician have been charged with failure to report the incident.

The teacher charged with neglect told the student during lunch that if he vomited, he would need to eat whatever he threw up, Brownsburg police said. The child vomited on a tray provided by the second teacher, and the aide charged with neglect then gave the child a spoon, police said.

The boy ate some of the vomit, then used paper towels to clean up what remained, police said. The alleged incident occurred in February.

The Brownsburg Community School Corp. said it learned of the incident on April 12 and removed the five staffers from contact with students and placed them on administrative leave.

Superintendent Jim Snapp said in a statement, “We are deeply saddened by the actions of these staff members and will work in conjunction with our local law enforcement as they move forward with possible criminal charges.”