7-Year-Old Indiana Student Got Sick While Eating Lunch, so School Employees Allegedly Forced Him to Eat His Own Vomit: Police

Several school employees in Indiana face charges after a 7-year-old student got sick while eating his school lunch and was allegedly forced to eat his own vomit, police said.

On April 12, police were notified that Sara Seymour, 27, and Debra Kanipe, 63, reportedly mistreated a child during lunch at an elementary school in Brownsburg in February, according to the Brownsburg Police Department.

Detectives were able to obtain footage from the incident, which showed the student eating his lunch. At some point, the student stood up and began “gagging on his food,” detectives said.

The student then reportedly vomited onto a tray, which was provided by Julie Taylor, 48, a life skills teacher at the school, officials said.

As the video continued, Seymour, a life skills teacher, and Kanipe, a life skills instructional aide, can be seen standing on each side of the student. Seymour allegedly handed a spoon to the student, who then ate some of his vomit, authorities said.

Afterward, the student can be seen cleaning up the rest of his vomit with paper towels, police said.

Other staff members, Megan King, 24, a registered behavioral technician, and Kirsten Mitchell, 38, a life skills instructional aide, were also reportedly present, but didn’t report the incident.

According to police, the termination process has started for Seymour and Kanipe. WXIN-TV reported that the school reported the termination process has also started for the other suspects in the case.

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Seymour and Kanipe were each charged with neglect of a dependent and failure to report, officials said. Taylor, Mitchel and King were each charged with failure to report.

On April 26, Seymour and Kanipe were booked into the Hendricks County Jail and released the same day.