LUMPKIN COUNTY, Ga. (WSVN) — Surveillance video from inside a Georgia school cafeteria shows a teacher grabbing a student by his throat while dragging him down a lunch table.
The incident happened at Lumpkin Mountain Education Charter High School, an alternative school for students who have gotten in trouble at other schools in the district. Though the altercation took place in 2017, the video was just recently released by the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office.
Teacher Tim Garner, 61, was charged with a felony and lost his job, but he tells WSB he acted in self-defense and has no regrets.
“I was in fear of a head-butt or something like that or carrying something,” Garner said, describing the teen as troubled and with a violent past.
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Prosecutors said Garner crossed the line by grabbing the 17-year-old by his throat while dragging him on the table. But when asked if he felt justified in doing so, the former teacher answered, “Absolutely.”
The video begins by showing the student and two others messing around with a styrofoam box. Garner asked the students to leave the cafeteria, but he says that’s when the teen approached him.
“He didn’t say anything until he put his hand on me and when he did that, I reacted. He was right up on me and when he did that,” Garner told WSB. “The next thing, I just wanted to control his hitting hand. He’s right hand dominant and that’s all he hits with. I’ve never seen him throw a punch with his left hand.”
The student’s attorney, Zack Tumlin, released a statement to the news outlet:
“Coach Garner’s assertions that my client is a troubled and violent youth is absurd, as is the assertion that my client initiated any contact with him. The truth of the matter, as the video clearly shows, is that Coach Garner decided to subdue and choke a child for almost 50 seconds as a method of exercising discretionary discipline for a minor infraction in the lunchroom. We expect Coach Garner to be held accountable and take responsibility for his lapse in judgment, and for the School District to do the right thing in settling the civil claims that will follow the criminal prosecution.”
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