Teacher-Beats-Student Video; Allegedly Lashed out After Student Teased Girl

By: Carlin DeGuerin Miller
Topics: Daily Blotter

HOUSTON (CBS/KHOU) When their teacher backed one of their classmates into a corner, students at a Houston-area charter school thought it was a joke - but it allegedly turned into a shocking and brutal beating that was caught on tape.

Cell phone video of alleged beating at Houston-area school. (KHOU)

Sherri Davis, a science teacher at Jamie's House Charter School, allegedly backed 13-year-old Isaiah Johnson into a corner and began beating him while his classmates watched.

At the beginning of the video you can hear the laughter and applause from the students as Isaiah is backed into a corner by Davis after Isaiah reportedly teased a female classmate. But Janiqua Johnson, a student who shot the video on her cell phone, says Davis "snapped" and started beating the 13-year-old, according to CBS affiliate KHOU.

The teacher "just started beating him up," Janiqua Johnson told KHOU. "His behavior may have been bad but he didn't deserve that," Johnson said, referring to the teasing that preceded the alleged beating.

Davis was placed on administrative leave when school officials learned of the incident in late April, but was fired Monday when officials saw the video.

"It was horrifying," said Sue Jones, spokesperson for the school. "There's just no other word for that."

Janiqua Johnson and other witnesses told KHOU that four or five school employees were present in the classroom. The students claimed they felt intimidated by some teachers after the video became public.

The school is looking into allegations that other teachers watched the beat-down without stepping in, according to a school spokesperson, and said that it will punish any teachers found to have done that.

The Harris County Sheriff's Department is also investigating the incident, although a spokesperson declined to comment further.

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by Spineshank155 November 10, 2010 1:56 AM EST: And while i agree kids do need better discipline if detention doesn't help send them to boot camp, let the big bad ass marine teach the kid some discipline. They will properly discipline a kid (most of the time) without ever laying a finger on them. If i couldn't get my kid to be properly disciplined then i would send him or her to boot camp. Either way parents do need to properly discipline kids without hurting them physically that could cause permanent damage or where they end up in the hospital for a dislocated shoulder, broken teeth, ect.; Reply to this comment


by Spineshank155 November 10, 2010 1:40 AM EST: Anyone defending this teacher is an idiot, this is abuse. If i had a trouble making kid i would have expected her to be calm & properly discipline the kid. If you did something that was disrupted or disrespectful you would get a school suspension. That's how schools are supposed to discipline kids. You don't beat the kid to death or even lay a finger on them. You send them to the principle office to have a chat. This teacher deserved to get fired, i'm glad for whoever caught this teacher on camera. Teachers don't get 'driven' to the point where they have to beat the kid. Regardless if this kid was a huge trouble-maker that stresses out the teacher, she still should have kept her cool & sent him to the principle office. Even if this kid was in a fight with another kid, the teachers job is to try to break up the fight or call for assistance & then immediately send them to the principles office.

What this teacher did was totally out of line. If i had a kid who got beat up by a teacher, i would sue the teacher for every cent she had & made sure her life falls apart because i would be way more upset on the way that teacher mishandled my kid rather then my kid being a trouble maker. Sure i would discipline my kid but i would also file a lawsuit against the teacher.; Reply to this comment


by Teacher31 October 27, 2010 12:45 AM EDT: Wow! I am a teacher and I think this teacher's behavior is absolutely unacceptable. It is a teacher's job to create an environment of safety where students can take the risks necessary to learn. I believe in holding students to high expectations and standards academically and behaviorally. There other ways to deal with behavior than putting your hands on a student. If that teacher felt like she was getting to the point of losing control than it was her responsibility to be the adult and remove herself from the situation and ask for help from the support systems in her school. Many students experience abuse in their families and in their relationships with friends. They don't need to experience abuse from their teacher as well.; Reply to this comment

by thetedson August 20, 2010 11:26 PM EDT

hahahahahahahaha, if i was in that school i would laugh and call the kid a ***** and help kick his ass, he deserved it

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by wangmister October 28, 2010 3:19 AM EDT: if i were at that school i would crack you in the face and then jump knee the teacher.
she is a total *****!


by killuminati1776 August 9, 2010 7:02 PM EDT: This video is beyond deplorable. Those of you applauding the teacher are sick. If you're really that miserable then my comment need not apply to you. That teacher is a perfect example of how our school systems are dysfunctional and filled with UNQUALIFIED and UNSTABLE individuals masquerading around as teachers. You really trust your kids with total strangers? People need to get more involved in their own lives. Remember it takes a village to raise a child. Why are we so unwilling to work together. Wake up out of your daze people. Don't wait for someone else to fix the problem, take control of your own lives.; Reply to this comment


by cwilcox91 July 27, 2010 3:44 PM EDT: This is disgusting. You see that size difference? That's a KID, woman. Who corners a kid like that? I mean, that's sick. The kid was cowering, yet she still beat him.

So tough to pick on a kid huh? Why don't you try that with someone your own size SHERRI DAVIS?

If the kid was teasing another kid, it's right to discipline the kid, NOT BEAT HIM. What a vile excuse of a person, abusing her power, abusing a kid. I don't care what anyone says, it's not alright to do this.

"This teacher was doing what needed to be done. I applaud her!"

Is it a standing ovation? Wow..... I'd like to hear you say that if that was your kid. Wouldn't be so commendable then, I guarantee it.

Honestly, kids who bully others usually learn the hard way, usually from other kids. She has no right to assault a child.

She really screwed herself by doing that. I understand bullying is bad, I understand kids these days are frustrating and disrespectful. I understand her job is stressful. I don't understand how people leave comments here defending a woman who beat a kid half her size.; Reply to this comment


by ccnap July 15, 2010 10:28 PM EDT: SOME ONE SHOULD BEAT THAT TEACHERS A**!! IF THAT WAS MY CHILD NO ONE OR NOTHING COULD STOP ME FROM GETTING AT HER!! I KNOW THESE KIDS THESE DAYS CAN ACT OUT, BUT THEY HAVE NO RIGHT LAYING A HAND ON THESE CHILDREN! SHE OBVIOUSLY HAD SOME MENTAL ISSUES AND HOPEFULLY LOST HER LICENSE TO TEACH ANYWHERE FOR GOOD.!! DUMB ASS CHIC!!!!! SHOULD ROT IN JAIL; Reply to this comment


by mikemmm July 15, 2010 2:09 AM EDT: Yeah the kid might cause a lot of trouble but nothing can justify the tremendous beating he got. Maybe he did have it coming but it's not for the teacher to beat a kid like that.; Reply to this comment


by plumbsue June 16, 2010 1:48 PM EDT: This may not have been the right thing to do but I really wish there were teachers around as Ms. Davis when I was being bullied, ridiculed, and picked on a regular basis.

When I was 13, I was picked on a nearly daily basis by a boy who sat in front of me in my homeroom class. We were in the center row of the classroom, a clear view for everyone's entertainment. The white male teacher's desk was directly in front of the boy's desk and yet he would do nothing to stop the abuse. Most of the class thought that it was funny to see this girl being mistreated.

I went to the teacher a few times to no avail so I learned not to give him the satisfication of informing anyone else. If this was happening right in front of our teacher and the entire class and yet he choose to look the other way, why shouldn't I believe that others such as the principal, my counselor, and his mother who worked in the cafeteria would do the same thing?

I would have killed to have a teacher as Ms. Davis during my school days.; Reply to this comment

by twistedkitty May 21, 2010 12:10 AM EDT

I am sickened by the idiots that are actually DEFENDING this woman! I reside in a state in which corporal punishment still exsist(not using ma'am or sir is enough to evoke a paddling)in the schools.My son was paddled at school...not beat..and it had NOTHING to do with a lack of respect!Believe it or not,some parents do discipline their children and teach them to show respect.All the folks applauding this woman and blaming the child must not have any of their own.If I were to discipline my child to that extreme,my son would be taken away from me and I would find myself behind bars and charged with abuse. How do we teach our children self control when the adults around then have none themselves? What did she teach that child by beating him with her fists and kicking him...that it is ok to flip out and beat the snot out of somebody!?

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by nerdgirl8 May 21, 2010 12:33 AM EDT: We need more parents like you then (and corporal punishment). Lack of parental support is a prevailing issue here in Texas. We can rarely get a parent to come in for a conference. When you do get one in, it becomes obvious that the kids run their households and have no respect for their parents. It's not always easy to get respect from a student towards the teacher, towards their peers, and for the learning environment if they don't even respect their own parents. I have one student who has gotten angry enough to "throw" a desk across my room on two occasions. I'm so glad that the school year is almost over and he will be out of my class. Two different students were hit by the desks during these incidences. I did my part and wrote up the incidences and the kid got suspended a few days each time. We're lucky the parents didn't try to file a law suit. Can you imagine if that would've been your child hit by a desk due to unruly classrooms and students? Again, I applaud your parental efforts.