‘Told him I couldn’t breathe’: Video shows north Ga. teacher put student in chokehold, family says

CLARKE COUNTY, Ga. — An Athens-Clarke County family said a video shows their 13-year-old being put in a chokehold by a teacher. Police are investigating but the family wants to see the teacher charged.

Channel 2′s Candace McCowan was live in Athens where she spoke to that family on WSB Tonight at 11 p.m.

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It happened last week during algebra class at W.R. Coile Middle School.

“He’s nice to me, I never thought he would do that to me,” said Jaden Barnett.

Jaden said he was caught off guard when an argument between him and another student ended with the arms of a teacher wrapped around his neck.

“I was like I couldn’t breathe. I started seeing black dots and stuff. I told him I couldn’t breathe, he didn’t do anything he got tighter and tighter,” said Jaden.

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Eventually, Jaden said it was another teacher who broke it up. The school called Jaden’s grandmother.

“Hurt, I was hurt,” said Glenda Barnett. “It’s not a good feeling seeing these kids mistreated by these grown-ups.”

Channel 2 Action News reached out to the Clarke County School District on Wednesday and the district’s response was, “This incident is currently being investigated. The teacher is on leave pending the outcome of that investigation.”

But for Glenda Barnett, that’s not enough.

“You just can’t walk around choking people and you’re choking kids you know,” said Barnett. “I want to definitely see him be arrested and definitely not see him back in any school.”

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