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.”
On August 20, the school’s principal summoned Miller to her office, claiming that there had been reports of students on campus carrying guns. “During that process, we located guns,” Miller said, claiming that “we saved lives.”
In the presence of police officers, Miller confronted one female student. Miller and the cops had no idea the student, who was described as confrontational and violent by witnesses, was armed at the time of the altercation.
According to News 19, the situation escalated when the student hit Miller with a stapler. Miller then grabbed the girl and held her down until authorities took charge and arrested her. Miller was first dismissed, but the school system eventually changed its mind and put him on a month-long suspension, according to News 19.
Miller’s conduct was found to be unprofessional and in violation of the Fulton County Board of Education Policy and Georgia Professional Standard Commission’s Code of Ethics for Georgia Educators.
However, his attorneys reportedly said that a GaPSC investigation said Miller’s conduct “presented no violations of law and should be dismissed immediately and expunged.”
“This is the strongest evidence yet that Coach Miller did nothing wrong, and the Fulton County Schools proposed suspension is completely unwarranted,” said attorney Allen Lightcap in a statement, per the report.
“Every eyewitness interview witnessed no misconduct from Coach Miller. That’s a quote from Fulton County documents,” Lightcap is further reported as saying.
After initially seeking to fire Miller, the school now hopes to suspend him for 20 days, unpaid. It reportedly began on April 11.
Miller has maintained that educators should be able to defend themselves, and the community has rallied behind him, reportedly holding prayer services for the coach.
Watch the video report below for more details:
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