A Georgia high school coach has been suspended from his position after restraining a student who brought a loaded gun to school.
Tri-Cities High School‘s athletic director and coach Kenneth Miller says he and other staff members were on their way to a pep rally on Aug. 20 when they received notice that the student’s “were planning on doing something at the pep rally.” Afterward, the school’s principal called Miller into her office and told him to look into reports that students brought guns onto the campus, Fox 5 News reports. “During that process, we located guns. We saved lives,” Miller said.
While performing the probe, Miller confronted a female student with officers. At the time, Miller and the officers didn’t know if the female student had a gun. Things went left when the student appeared to have slapped Miller’s hand, causing his phone to fly out of his hand. Miller then grabs the student and restrains her against the wall. The entire ordeal was caught on camera.
Another gun was also found; there are no details on whether the weapon belonged to the student. At first, Miller was fired over the incident, but the school retracted their decision and changed it to suspension.
In a statement to Fox News Digital on Thursday, Fulton County Schools wrote: “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.”
Parents stand in support of Miller. “I’m OK with him standing up for those children,” said Kavon Smith Arnold to 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.”
