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Fishers mother files lawsuit against school and coach over 2016 discrimination allegation

Posted at 5:13 PM, Oct 11, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-11 19:24:03-04

FISHERS, Ind. -- A Fishers mother has filed a civil lawsuit over the way she says a football coach treated her son in class. 

The lawsuit, filed against Fishers High school, The Hamilton Southeastern School District and the Head Football Coach at Fishers High School - Rich Wimmer - claims arbitrary and racially discriminatory treatment stemming from an incident back in 2016. 

Joniece Brooks says her son, Jaydon Bond, was on the football team and was in a class taught by Wimmer. 

READ | Fishers High School head football coach returns to school following 'in-class' incident

She says Bond was late for class one day and knew the protocol was to do pushups so he did them. Then Wimmer told him he would not get his participation points for the day.

Brooks said when her son questioned why the coach got physical with him. 

She says police showed her surveillance video of what happened that day in class. 

"I can't tell whether it's on his neck or his shoulder," said Brooks. "He placed both hands on my son and pushes him back several feet."

Wimmer was placed on paid administrative leave in September 2016, following what the school called an "in-class incident." 

Hamilton Southeastern Schools say the allegations were "thoroughly investigated" by both the school district and the police department. 

"We are aware of a civil complaint regarding allegations from 2016 involving a teacher and a former student. The allegations were thoroughly investigated by HSE as well as law enforcement. We addressed the allegations. Law enforcement did not pursue any action. We are reviewing the civil complaint with legal counsel and do not plan to discuss the pending litigation outside of the court process."

Brooks says her son has been diagnosed as clinically depressed since the incident and is now on medication. 

Fishers police reviewed the surveillance video of the incident but no criminal charges were ever filed. 

In 2016, Fishers police released the following information about that incident:

"On September 14 detectives began their investigation and interviewed all parties involved. During the interviews, detectives learned this incident began when the student arrived late for a class. The teacher instructed the student to proceed to the back of the class at which time the student verbally disagreed and refused to move. In an attempt to direct the student to the back of the room, the teacher placed his hands on the student’s shoulder and upper chest. The student immediately reacted and the teacher removed his hands. Both parties estimated the entire incident lasted approximately 5 seconds. The teacher and student then walked down to the dean’s office where school officials and the student’s mother were notified."

Wimmer was hired in 2006 as FHS' head football coach. In addition to coaching, Wimmer teaches physical education.

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