Jury awards family $750K in lawsuit alleging CPS teacher arranged to have student beaten at school

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A jury awarded $750,000 in damages to the family of a Chicago Public Schools student whose elementary school teacher was accused of providing belts to another adult to beat him.

The initial incident at Tilton Elementary School in 2018. Jo'maury Champ was 9 years old when he said he was beaten inside the boy's bathroom at his elementary school. Six years later, a federal civil rights lawsuit on his behalf went to trial and he was able to testify for the first time publicly.

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

Champ told the jury that on Sept. 20, 2018, at Tilton Elementary School, Juanita Tyler beat him with two belts provided by his homeroom teacher Kristen Haynes.

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.

In his civil trial testimony, Jo'maury recalled being dragged into the boy's bathroom by both women, then Haynes leaving while Tyler allegedly beat him some 20 times.