Coach fired for allegedly choking middle school student with shirt

YPSILANTI, Mich. (WXYZ) — A Michigan middle school coach has been fired after allegedly attacking a student.

School surveillance video shows him choking the boy with a shirt.

The student's parents are speaking out and saying they want the coach to face charges.

“Michael told me his coach choked him,” said Yolanda Ellis, Michael’s mother.

The student's father, Steve Moon, said he “was angry.”

He's angry because the video that a relative says looks like a movie of someone blowing himself up in a prison is actually their 14-year-old son being attacked by one of his coaches at Ypsilanti Middle School.

“I was horrified. It made me lose faith in the school system,” Ellis added. “It also made me lose confidence in that coach because he was someone Michael looked up to.”

The coach has not yet been identified because he has not been charged, but the school has labeled him a paraeducator.

The incident happened last week.

The teen told his parents it all started when the coach told him to do some push-ups because he was having fun in the hallway.

Michael said he tried to explain that he couldn't do the push-ups because he injured his hand. He then got up to go to class.

A few seconds later, the coach gave chase.

In the hallway, the coach took off a shirt, wrapped it around his wrists and strangled Michael from behind.

Michael suffered some injuries and later told his parents about the incident.

His father went to the police, while his mother took the matter to the principal.

“He just told me what happened and he said it was the worst thing he had seen and he was completely disgusted by it and the person had been fired,” she described. Ellis.

Michael's mother asked school officials to see the surveillance video.

“They didn’t give it to me,” Ellis said.

They were eventually able to get the footage from Ypsilanti police. They said the incident remains under investigation.

The family lawyer is also monitoring the situation.

“We will simultaneously monitor what the Washtenaw County District Attorney's Office does to the school official who assaulted him, and we are open to a dialogue with the school to ensure this does not happen again and that there are responsibilities,” Jordan Vahdat, the family’s lawyer, said.

The principal sent a letter to all parents regarding the incident. The statement did not directly describe to parents what happened, but the superintendent said these actions were unacceptable and would not be tolerated in the district.

The employee no longer works in the district and is not permitted to enter school property or attend school activities.

Michael's parents want the coach to face criminal charges.

“To what extent he went after Mike and what he did after Mike, yes, absolutely,” Ellis said when asked if she thought the coach should face criminal charges .

Michael's parents said they don't yet know if their son will return to Ypsilanti Middle School next year.

“I need this man to pay for what he did to my son, and if that means being fired, losing his job, staying in prison, I need him to know that what he did was wrong,” Moon said.

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