WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A Purdue University professor is accused of domestic violence against his wife and a 10-year-old boy in their West Lafayette home. The university has removed John Froiland, a Ph.D. in school psychology, from teaching classes at Purdue.
Investigators with the Tippecanoe Sheriff's Department tell 13News that 48-year-old Froiland angrily confronted his wife when she came home around 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 10. He wanted to know where she had been.
She told investigators that her husband pinned her against a wall.
The boy was allegedly locked inside a dog crate while Froiland broke the wooden leg off a chair and hit his wife repeatedly across her arms, according to police. She suffered welts and bruising.
She reportedly told investigators she was able to free the boy from the dog crate, but Froiland would not let them leave the house. Police said she eventually left with the child, but Froiland allegedly took her cell phone so she could not call for help.
She later called and met with police on Purdue's campus.
Froiland was charged with domestic battery, battery on a person less than 14, confinement, intimidation and interference with the reporting of a crime.
His faculty profile lists Froiland as a clinical assistant professor in educational psychology. All that Purdue will say for now is that he is on indefinite paid administrative leave.
Froiland joined the College of Education in 2017. His research includes parental involvement in school, teacher-student relationships, and positive psychology interventions. Froiland is listed as a Positive Education and Organizational Consultant.
He teaches a course called Learning and Motivation.
The Purdue Exponent reports that the department head of the College of Education met with students this week to explain how other professors will take over the class.