A 74-year-old substitute teacher was violently attacked by a student who stood at six feet two inches and weighed 280 pounds in Indiana earlier this month. Rob Gooding was serving as a substitute at Perry Meridian High School in Indianapolis on February 1, Rob when a student struck him with a laptop, knocked him to the ground, and punched him in the face.
Paramedics quickly arrived at the scene to attend to Gooding's substantial facial injuries. Gooding told a school resource officer, who arrived with the emergency crews that he wanted his attacker to be arrested and prosecuted. However, the school officials straightforwardly refused to get him arrested, Gooding alleges.
Attacking His Teacher and No Punishment
"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.
However, the student proceeded to forcefully push the elderly instructor to the ground in front of startled students and continued to deliver a barrage of punches to his head.
"He hovered over me and with his left hand whammed me," Gooding told News 8.
Paramedics quickly responded to the scene, finding the disoriented teacher with a severe knot on his forehead and a deep black eye.
Gooding then asked the school administrators to get the teen arrested. However, the school refused to get the hulking teen arrested because they had been instructed by the district to do so.
"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 Stays Mum
School officials told News 8 that they couldn't provide comments on what, if any, disciplinary measures were taken against the teenager. "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."
However, weeks later, Gooding revealed that he has not been contacted by any party regarding the case.
"He has to be accountable for his actions and that's what I feel," Gooding said.
Attacks on teachers by students have become increasingly common, sometimes resulting in lethal consequences.
A Texas teacher's aide, Fred Jimenez, 73, died this month after being pushed to the ground, leading to a fatal head injury.
Despite serving at a San Antonio High School for over a decade, school administrators reportedly downplayed the incident, failing to convey to his wife, Margo Jimenez, that he had been pushed.
