A former coach at a Michigan high school is facing criminal charges, after allegedly being captured on surveillance video choking a student from behind with a rolled up shirt.
According to family members, the incident took place on June 4, when the coach scolded 14-year-old Michael Moon for horsing around in a hallway at Ypsilanti Middle School.
The coach told the boy to do push-ups as a punishment. Moon replied that he couldn’t do push-ups due to a hand injury and walked away.
The coach then allegedly followed Moon down a hallway and choked the teen with a rolled up shirt, according to surveillance video.
“I was horrified. It made me lose trust in the school system,” the boy’s mother, Yolanda Ellis, told WLBT. “It also made me lose trust in that coach because he was someone that Michael looked up to.”
The incident left Moon with a red mark across his collarbone, according to photos from the family.
School district officials said the former employee, who has not been named publically, was immediately fired and barred from attending school events.
In a June 10 letter from the district to parents, officials said they couldn’t comment specifically on the details of the ongoing investigation into the incident, but called attacking students “absolutely unacceptable.”
“Ensuring the safety and well-being of our students is our top priority, and we want to reassure you that we are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness,” the letter read.
The former coach has been charged with assault with intent to do great bodily harm by strangulation, and assault and battery, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office told ABC News.
“I need this man to pay for what he did to my son, and if that means being fired, losing his job, sitting in jail, I need him to know what he did was wrong,” Steve Moon, the boy’s father, told local news after the incident.
The Independent has contacted the prosecutor’s office, the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s office, and the Ypsilanti Police Department for further information.
