Five staff members from an elementary school in Indiana have been charged following accusations that a student was forced to eat his own vomit.
As reported by NBC News, four staff members and a behavioral technician from the Brown Elementary School in Brownsburg have all been charged with misdemeanor failure to report after being accused of forcing a 7-year-old special educational needs student to eat his own vomit with a spoon
Brownsburg Police have named the five staff members as 24-year-old Megan King, 27-year-old Sara Seymour, 38-year-old Kristen Mitchell, 48-year-old Julie Taylor, and 63-year-old Debra Kanipe.
Seymour and Kanipe have also been charged with felony neglect of a dependent - a level 6 felony - authorities have revealed.
Police say that teacher Seymour and instructional aide Kanipe told the young boy that if he threw up, he would have to eat it. When he did so, staff reportedly gave him a spoon and made him eat some of it while the staff members stood by a watched.
Video of the incident, which took place during the children's lunch, shows the boy appearing to stand up and start gagging on his food. He was then ordered to sit down by Seymour, police say.
According to a news release by police, Taylor, a life skills teacher, then gave the boy a lunch tray.
After the boy vomited on the tray, Kanipe, a life skills instructional aid, allegedly handed the boy a spoon.
The child was then allegedly forced to eat the vomit and clean the rest of the mess with paper towels.
The news release details: "Both Seymour and Kanipe stood at each side of the child while he consumed a portion of the vomit. Mitchell and King were present and witnessed the incident."
The school's superintendent, Jim Snapp, has said in a press release: "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."
The police and wider school were made aware of the incident on April 12.
All five of the staff members were placed on administrative leave and removed from any contact with students. The termination process for Seymour and Kanipe is already underway, with the remaining staff members facing termination following a school board meeting next month.
After the Hendricks County Prosecutor's Office filed charges on Tuesday, Seymour and Kanipe were arrested and subsequently released on Wednesday (April 26).
