Georgia educator suspended after restraining student in possession of loaded gun
‘I don’t feel like I did anything wrong,’ the high school coach says.
A Georgia high school athletic director was suspended after he defended himself and restrained a student who was in possession of a loaded weapon in school.
“I don’t feel like I did anything wrong,” Tri-Cities High School coach Kenneth Miller said, according to News 19. “I only adhered to what Fulton County School Board Policy says you’re allowed to do.”
Miller said that on Aug. 20 of last year, the school’s principal called him to her office about reports of students on campus with guns.
“During that process, we located guns. We saved lives,” Miller told Fox 5.
Miller confronted one female student while in the presence of police officers. Miller and the officers were unaware the student, who eyewitnesses described as belligerent and aggressive, had a gun at the time of the confrontation.
The situation escalated when the student hit Miller with a stapler, News 19 reported. Miller then grabbed the girl and restrained her until officers stepped in and took her into custody.
A loaded gun was later found in her backpack. Another gun was also found that day, according to Miller, but it’s unclear if the same girl was in possession of that gun.
“I’m OK with him standing up for those children,” a supporter of Miller, Kavon Smith Arnold, told Fox 5. “What I’m not OK with is him being railroaded, because at the end of the day teachers are put in very uncompromising positions to take care of our children.”
Miller was initially fired, but the school district later reversed the decision to a suspension which has lasted months, News 19 reported.
“The district administration does not support Mr. Miller’s actions relating to this event and believes his conduct failed to meet the professional expectations it has for employees. Mr. Miller inappropriately intervened in a student matter being handled by school administrators and law enforcement. Mr. Miller acted outside of the scope of his authority and responsibilities,” Fulton County Schools said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Thursday.
“Mr. Miller’s conduct resulted in an escalation of a physical altercation with a student in crisis, which conflicts with district expectations to deescalate in these types of situations. Mr. Miller has not exhausted his due process rights at this time and remains on full, paid administrative leave.
Miller’s lawyer called on school systems to support teachers who “get put in terribly dangerous situations.”
“Those teachers are our first line of defense against guns and other types of terrible violence that happens in schools,” Miller’s lawyer said.
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