Trial for lawsuit alleging CPS teacher arranged to have student beaten at school in 2018 begins

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The civil trial in the case of a former Chicago Public Schools teacher who is accused of allowing another adult to beat a 9-year-old student with belts began Tuesday.

The initial incident at Tilton Elementary School in 2018. Jo'maury Champ is 15 years old now and nearly six years have passed since the day he said he was beaten inside the boy's bathroom at his elementary school. He took the stand Tuesday to tell his story, which implicates his teacher and a distant relative.

READ MORE: Lawsuit alleges CPS teacher arranged for student to be beaten with belt at school

It was the first time he told his story publicly. Champ says on the day of Sept. 20, 2018, at Tilton Elementary School, Juanita Tyler beat him with two belts provided by his homeroom teacher Kristen Haynes.

"School is supposed to be a safe haven for kids," said Asian Gaines, Champ's mother. "And kids are supposed to be protected no matter what. Teachers are supposed to protect the kids from hurt, harm or danger and she failed to do so."

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It's taken nearly six years for the federal lawsuit to come to trial and for Champ to testify on his own behalf. In the intervening time, Tyler was convicted of misdemeanor domestic battery while Haynes was acquitted of similar charges, although she did lose her job at Tilton.

The lawsuit, filed against both women and the Board of Education, alleges Haynes arranged for Tyler, who is a distant relative of the boy but who did not work at the school, to come in that day to beat him. It is unclear what he was being punished for.

"Ms. Haynes threatened Jo'maury," said family attorney Al Hofeld Jr. in 2018. "'You'd better be good because the lady is going to come back.'"

Testifying Tuesday, Jo'maury recalled being dragged into the boy's bathroom by both women, then Haynes leaving while Tyler allegedly beat him some 20 times.

Also on the stand today his sister, who was in the same homeroom class as he, said, "I heard Jo'maury scream," and that when he came back to class, "He was crying and had tears on his face."

Jo'maury's aunt, who picked the siblings up at school that day, testified that, "Jo'maury said he got a whooping by a lady he don't even know. But she said he [sic] was his auntie."

The trail is expected to last for around two weeks. Attorneys are seeking both compensatory and punitive damages to be awarded to Champ's family to make up for the trauma they said he sustained as a result.