District investigates teacher accused of choking student over untucked shirt
A DeKalb County, Georgia teacher has been charged with attacking a 14-year-old student for failing to tuck his shirt into his pants, Channel 2 Action News reports.
The alleged incident happened between teacher Keith Evans and student Julian Butler last November at an alternative school in the county. Butler’s mother, Sharon Hepburn, showed Channel 2 photos of her son with bruises on his neck and Butler said what prompted the attack was when Evans told him to tuck in his shirt.
“He was like, ‘Just tuck your shirt in.’ “The way it was tucked in — it wasn’t the way he wanted it to be,” Butler told Channel 2.
“I was hurt. It actually made me cry because that’s not what I send my son to school for,” Hepburn added in the interview. “I get to the school and find out that one of his teachers had grabbed around his neck, choked him and slammed his head on the desk.”
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Butler was charged with simple battery following the November incident, but now Hepburn is hoping the teacher is charged. She told reporters she has shown pictures to a judge of her son’s injuries around his neck.
“Whether he ran his mouth or not, that still don’t give the teacher the right to grab him around the neck,” Hepburn told the news channel.
Evans’ attorney responded to the claims, saying the teacher didn’t cause the injuries.
“My client was attacked first and that’s the part of this entire scenario that’s so confusing, so sad,” attorney Yari D. Lawson told Channel 2. “The mother’s upset her kid was charged with simple battery for attacking my client, so now she’s trying to get back at my client.”
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Evans has been removed from the classroom, according to a statement that the district emailed to Channel 2 Action News. He’s now on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
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