Current:Home > StocksMichigan coach fired, facing charges after video shows him choking teen at middle school -WealthMap Solutions
Michigan coach fired, facing charges after video shows him choking teen at middle school
View
Date:2025-04-16 06:49:51
A Michigan middle school coach was fired and is facing criminal charges after video captured him running up behind a student and using his shirt to grab him by the neck.
The former coach, whose name has not been released by authorities or the middle school, was charged with assault with the intent to cause bodily harm by strangulation and assault and battery, Washtenaw County prosecuting Attorney Eli Savit told USA TODAY Thursday.
The charges stem from June 4 at Ypsilanti Community Middle School, when the coach, working as a hall monitor, ordered a 14-year-old student identified by his family as Michael Moon to do pushups for "horse-playing with another student," the family's attorney, Jordan Vahdat, told USA TODAY.
Michael told the coach that he could not do the pushups because of a bike-riding hand injury. That's when the coach apparently pounced.
Surveillance video shows Michael trying to do the pushups on his knees before showing the coach that he cannot. Michael then enters a classroom and is soon escorted back to the hallway by the coach. When Michael walks away, the coach removes his own shirt, approaches Michael from behind and wraps it around the boy's neck, appearing to choke him, the video shows.
Michael endured a back injury and "mental anguish" from the man he once considered a "trusted coach," Vahdat said.
"What's really disturbing when you watch it is it looks like he's done this before because he wrapped it around his wrists," Vahdat told USA TODAY Thursday. "That's what makes it so horrible to watch because it's violent. This shows the intent there was to harm. He held him there for four or five seconds."
Coach fired immediately, now charged
The coach was immediately fired, banned from school property and from barred attending school activities, according to the Ypsilanti Community School District, which did not provide his name.
"The actions of the employee are absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated in our district," Ypsilanti Community Schools Superintendent Alena Zachery-Ross said in a statement. "We will continue to implement and enforce policies that protect our students and ensure their well-being."
Zachery-Ross told the school community in a letter Monday that law enforcement and social services authorities were promptly contacted after the incident.
The coach's case was not yet publicly listed in court records. Savit said the prosecutor's office could not name the coach until his arraignment hearing, which should be held in coming weeks.
Parents 'horrified' to see what happened
Moon's mother, Yolanda Ellis, said she was "horrified" seeing footage of her son being attacked, Detroit news station WXYZ-TV reported.
"It made me lose trust in the school system," Ellis told the station. "It also made me lose trust in that coach because he was someone that Michael looked up to."
The teen's father, Steve Moon, said he needs the man to pay for what he did to his son, the station reported.
"That means being fired, losing his job and sitting in jail," Steve Moon said. "I need him to know that what he did was wrong."
Vahdat said that the Moon family will be seeking monetary damages from the school and coach.
veryGood! (262)
Related
- New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
- Here’s When You Can Finally See Blake Lively’s New Movie It Ends With Us
- A Plan To Share the Pain of Water Scarcity Divides Farmers in This Rural Nevada Community
- Inside Clean Energy: US Electric Vehicle Sales Soared in First Quarter, while Overall Auto Sales Slid
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- Elon's giant rocket
- Amazon must pay over $30 million over claims it invaded privacy with Ring and Alexa
- Mega Millions jackpot grows to $820 million. See winning numbers for July 21.
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Chimp Empire and the economics of chimpanzees
Ranking
- Why members of two of EPA's influential science advisory committees were let go
- CEO Chris Licht ousted at CNN after a year of crisis
- Victor Wembanyama's Security Guard Will Not Face Charges After Britney Spears Incident
- Q&A: How White Flight and Environmental Injustice Led to the Jackson, Mississippi Water Crisis
- Elon Musk's skyrocketing net worth: He's the first person with over $400 billion
- Calculating Your Vacation’s Carbon Footprint, One Travel Mode at a Time
- Inside Clean Energy: US Electric Vehicle Sales Soared in First Quarter, while Overall Auto Sales Slid
- Elizabeth Holmes has started her 11-year prison sentence. Here's what to know
Recommendation
Stamford Road collision sends motorcyclist flying; driver arrested
Warming Trends: Climate Insomnia, the Decline of Alpine Bumblebees and Cycling like the Dutch and the Danes
The Largest U.S. Grid Operator Puts 1,200 Mostly Solar Projects on Hold for Two Years
Project Runway All Stars' Johnathan Kayne Knows That Hard Work Pays Off
What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
Taylor Swift's Star-Studded Fourth of July Party Proves She’s Having Anything But a Cruel Summer
The U.S. added 339,000 jobs in May. It's a stunningly strong number
Drifting Toward Disaster: the (Second) Rio Grande