Teachers ‘executed’ in shooter drill sue Indiana sheriff’s office for trauma, injury
An active shooter drill went too far at an Indiana elementary school, drawing real blood, and causing true trauma for the teachers playing victim, according to a lawsuit filed this month against the sheriff’s office that put on the mock exercise.
Teachers at Meadowlawn Elementary School came to work Jan. 4, 2019, aware of the planned training, but not what the White County Sheriff’s Office had in store, the lawsuit says.
The training included: high-velocity plastic pellets fired at point-blank range, breaking skin, leaving scars; screaming, expletives, and verbal abuse, according to the suit.
“The teachers displayed obvious signs of anguish and physical pain, but were humiliated to find the law enforcement officers joking and laughing at them,” the suit states.
The experience caused “lasting physical and emotional injuries,” and a group of eight teachers, represented by the National Education Association, are seeking compensation.
The sheriff’s office has not responded to a request for comment from McClatchy News.
Teachers were taken in groups and, on their knees, repeatedly “executed” by officers using Airsoft pellet guns -- which fire small plastic BBs at several hundred feet per second, the lawsuit says.
Others waiting outside for their turn said they could hear teachers scream from inside, McClatchy News previously reported.
“This is what happens when you just cower and do nothing,” one of the officers said, as he walked back and forth along the line of kneeling teachers, shooting them at point-blank “until his gun ran out of bullets,” according to the lawsuit.
Following one round of mock executions, one teacher described glaring back at the officers and “was shocked to find that they were grinning back at her.”
Between drills, teachers would quietly compare injuries. Often they were bleeding. Still, many said they didn’t feel they were allowed to opt out, and so continued to follow commands of the officer, the lawsuit says.
More exercises were held throughout the day -- a “run and hide drill,” a “barricade drill,” and a “counter-assault drill” -- with more shooting.
One teacher has “a permanent scar” on her stomach from being shot, the lawsuit says.
Another described hiding under a table to avoid any more pellets, but an officer found her and shot her three more times.
“Throughout the Rotating Drills, Officers repeatedly smirked, laughed, and joked, including in moments when teachers were being hit with bullets, crying out in pain, or demonstrating extreme fear,” according to the suit.
Officers were supposed to be conducting ALICE training, a program that’s been taught in thousands of schools and businesses, according to the company’s website, and promotes “proactive strategies” to survive active shooter situations.
Though the officers were certified ALICE instructors, and had provided training at schools and workplaces for years, the program never calls for shooting participants with high-velocity pellets or “ever using force on participants without first obtaining their consent,” the lawsuit says.
“I’ve worked with teachers in other districts who have gone through ALICE, and this did not happen,” Barbara Deardorff, an Indiana State Teachers Association official, told the Indianapolis Star in 2019. “This is not the normal practice.”
Two teachers have sought psychiatric help since the training, according to the complaint. Another has been diagnosed with PTSD, and has lost her faith in law enforcement, “the occupation she had viewed as the most trustworthy in society.”
The lawsuit was filed Aug. 14, records show, and the defendants have not yet responded.
