‘Barbaric’: Family claims 16-year-old blind student was abused, files lawsuit against Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township

INDIANAPOLIS — The parents of a disabled student have filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township, alleging the student endured physical and emotional abuse.

Attorneys Tammy Meyer and Catherine Michael are representing the family who filed a federal suit Thursday in Marion County Superior Court.

The complaint centers on allegations that staff members at Ben Davis High School, located at 1200 N. Girls School Road and Chapel Hill 7th and 8th Grade Center, located at 7320 West Tenth Street, would regularly deprive a 16-year-old student of food, ignore his medical needs and force him to remove his clothes while other employees recorded.

‘Shocks the conscience’: Allegations describe systemic abuse, neglect

According to the complaint, the student is blind and deaf. It also notes that the student was diagnosed with limb girdle muscular dystrophy in 2024. As a result, school employees were under specific instruction to feed the student multiple times during the day since the condition prevents him from maintaining or gaining weight.

“The defendants’ actions, including taking pictures of the child completely nude,
unattended, and humiliated, and in many instances, their deliberate inaction, constitute a pattern
of neglect and abuse that would be intolerable in any setting, but are particularly abhorrent here, where the victim was a defenseless child who is both blind and deaf under their exclusive
supervision and control,” the lawsuit read. “What occurred is not merely a failure of judgment or training; it is a collapse of responsibility, accountability, and compassion.”

The lawsuit accused the district of failing to provide the one-on-one trained aide that the student’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP) required, in addition to permitting unqualified staff to oversee his care.

Following his transfer to Ben Davis High School in July 2024, the victim’s mother recalled observing the victim cry “inconsolably and resist leaving home,” which she said was not behavior the student typically exhibited.

The lawsuit said the student’s behaviors became increasingly volatile as the 2024-2025 school year progressed, which was a “direct result of the trauma and abuse he suffered at school.” The the student’s family members’ concerns increased when they noticed the student was returning home from school with bruises.

The lawsuit claimed that the student’s mother shared her concerns on multiple occasions, but the school ignored them each time as staff allegedly tried to dispel the student’s physical ailments as self-injurious.

In August, a physician determined that the student had lost six pounds since the start of the school year.

“His energy waned and his once active nature documented throughout records gave way to listlessness. By midyear, the vibrant child who had once played and engaged now spent his days sitting or lying down, too weak to participate and too withdrawn to interact,” the lawsuit said. “He stopped signaling when he needed to use the restroom. He stopped responding to touch. He stopped reaching out at all. These were not the ordinary challenges of a child with disabilities. They were the unmistakable symptoms of trauma and neglect.”

The complaint names Superintendent Jeffrey Butts, Ben Davis HS Principal Sandra Squire, and multiple other staff members as defendants in the case.

“What happened to this child is nothing short of barbaric,” said Attorney Catherine Michael of
Connell Michael LLP. “He is a deaf-blind, medically fragile student who depends entirely on adults for every aspect of care. Instead of protecting him, the school left him isolated, starving, humiliated, and exploited. This was not a mistake or understaffing; it was systemic abuse.”

The family alleges the school corporation failed to uphold its obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the 14th Amendment, which offers protections for the right to due process and equal protection.

Next steps

The family said in the lawsuit that all of the information has been turned over to the Indiana Department of Child Services and that an investigation is ongoing. The lawsuit noted that the family is seeking punitive damages to compensate for losses.

Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township shared the following statement with FOX59/CBS4:

We’re aware of the lawsuit and take all allegations involving student safety and welfare with the utmost seriousness.

Due to federal privacy laws, including FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), we are significantly limited in what information we can share publicly about any student without proper authorization.

We want to be transparent with the public about this matter. If the family is willing to execute a full release of information that allows the district to discuss the circumstances surrounding these allegations, we would welcome the opportunity to provide our account and the relevant facts of this case.

We remain committed to the safety, dignity, and education of all students in our care.

We will have no further comment at this time.