Illinois Teacher Allegedly Duct Taped Student’s Face

Chicago, IL — An Illinois school teacher is in hot water after allegedly duct taping an 11-year-old student’s face after telling him to stop talking in class.

Princess Dempsey, a suburban Chicago school board member, has filed a lawsuit on her son’s behalf that accuses a teacher in the Lindrop School District of putting an index card on the boy’s mouth and then wrapping duct tape around his head.

According to CBS Chicago, Dempsey’s lawsuit names the teacher and Lindrop School District 92 as defendants. Dempsey is seeking over $100,000 in damages, and claims that her son has suffered from nightmares and anxiety attacks since the duct tape incident, which occurred on February 27, 2012.

The six-page filing states that the teacher allowed the boy to remove the tape after 45 minutes after realizing that he had started crying. When the teacher removed the duct tape, it allegedly tore chunks out of the boy’s hair and left welts on his face.

The filing says:

“After the incident, (he) was left with a bald spot and his face appeared as though it had been whipped. He also suffered from the continuous bullying of his peers as a result of the incident.”

According to Courthouse News, the teacher named in the lawsuit, Sarah Hicks, singled out 11-year-old Johnathen Dempsey in a reading lab with approximately 40 students who were talking amongst themselves. Hicks told Dempsey to shut up, and when another student asked him a question, Dempsey answered it. Then, according to the complaint, “without any discussion or warning, Ms. Hicks proceeded to place an index card on Johnathen’s mouth and wrap thick, heavy, maintenance grade duct tape all the way around his head, taping and forcing his mouth shut.”

The complaint also claims that Johnathen Dempsey became “much more reserved, not wanting to leave the house and only spending time with his older brothers.”

If this incident sounds familiar, that’s because it is one that has happened in several schools around the country recently. As previously reported by The Inquisitr, in September, a substitute teacher in Lafayette, Louisiana, allegedly taped a 9-year-old student’s mouth shut with red duct tape. The boy’s mother said he now “has to face these same kids for the rest of the year that were sitting there laughing at him.” The school board, along with the Lafayette Police Department, condemned the substitute’s actions. The school board said it felt it took the “necessary disciplinary action against that teacher, but the parent always has the right to file additional charges.”

Another duct taping incident unfolded just last month, when an Indiana school teacher duct taped the feet of an 8-year-old student with Down syndrome. The girl’s parents noticed that she was unable to walk when her school bus showed up to their house, and she had to be carried off the bus by her father. The bus driver reportedly observed the girl being brought out of the school with a wheelchair because she was unable to walk. The parents said the duct tape was so tight it began to cut of the circulation and left bruises on their daughter’s ankles.

What do you think should happen to teachers who put duct tape on their students?