Coach charged after video shows him attacking Michigan middle school student
(CBS DETROIT) — A former track coach has been charged after surveillance video shows him attacking a student at a Metro Detroit middle school last week.
The student at Ypsilanti Middle School said his coach told him to do push-ups, but he couldn't due to an injury. After that, the coach allegedly assaulted the student from behind and choked him with his shirt.
The Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office confirmed that the coach has now been charged with felony assault with intent to do great bodily harm by strangulation, and misdemeanor assault and battery. His name is being held pending his arraignment.
The student's mother, Yolanda Ellis, was shocked after learning about the incident.
"My initial reaction when I saw the video: I was horrified," Ellis said. "I could not believe this coach would do something like that to him. How I'm feeling now is I am feeling let down."
The student's father, Steven Moon, says that since the attack, other parents have come forward about similar incidents.
"I'm just highly disturbed and angry," Moon said. "It's a letdown that this man that (my son) Michael looked up to failed him like that. He was the last person that I would expect to do that, and on the other side of that, Michael is the last kid who deserves something like that."
The parents said the school refused to give them the video footage of the attack, but when they went to the police department, detectives gave it to them. The parents shared the video with CBS News Detroit.
The coach has been relieved from his position.