Police: Former Pike Twp. teacher charged with neglect, let students fight during recess
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A former Pike Township elementary school teacher faces neglect charges after she allowed two students to fight and refused to intervene.
A probable cause affidavit obtained by News 8 on Tuesday says Pike Township Police Department officers were called to Guion Creek Elementary School on February 28 on a report of a fight.
Investigators learned that on the day before, two boys engaged in a physical fight during recess. Court documents say during the fight, one of the boys was picked up and slammed on the ground by the other, receiving a large lump on the back of his head.
The fight was not reported to school administrators until the injured boy’s father alerted them of the incident.
The next day, administrators, district police officers, and investigators with the Department of Child Services reviewed security camera footage of the fight.
A teacher, identified as Reshanda Allen, had been on duty at the playground when the fight broke out.
The affidavit says that Allen told the boys “if they are going to fight, then fight,” and stood by and watched.
Allen did not stop the fight and failed to alert administrators or the students’ parents.
Court records show Allen faces charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury and neglect of a dependant by placing the dependent in a dangerous situation.
A spokesperson from the MSD of Pike Township confirmed to News 8 that Allen was no longer employed by the district.
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