Wake County assistant principal suspended after allegedly placing knee on student’s neck
A Wake County school employee has been suspended after an incident captured on video that appears to show him placing a knee on a student’s neck, according to the school’s principal.
Staff at Panther Creek High School in Cary responded to a fight between two students during lunch on Tuesday, Principal Greg Decker said in the letter to the school community.
Footage recorded by students and the school’s security cameras appears to show a staff member restraining a student by placing his knee on the student’s neck, Decker said. The incident was also witnessed by several students.
A video was shared with school district leadership Tuesday evening, and an investigation was launched in collaboration with the Wake County Public School System’s human resources department and the Cary Police Department, the letter stated.
The employee, who was not identified in the letter, is currently suspended from all duties as authorities continue their investigation, Decker said.
WCPSS spokesperson Lisa Luten confirmed Jonathan Chang, an assistant principal at the school, has been suspended with pay, but would not say if his suspension is related to Tuesday’s incident, citing personnel laws. Several posts on social media identified Chang as the employee in the video.
“As the investigation proceeds, we are committed to being as transparent as the law allows and to taking any appropriate action,” Decker said.
Video ‘deeply concerning’
In addition to the employee with his knee on the student’s neck, the roughly 30-second video appears to show a uniformed officer cuffing the student’s hands behind his back on a patch of dirt outside of the school.
At no point in the video does the officer stop the employee from placing his knee on the student’s neck.
Deanna Hawkes, a spokesperson for the town of Cary, confirmed the officer is a school resource officer at Panther Creek High and a member of the Cary Police Department.
Asked if both individuals shown restraining the student are being investigated, Hawkes said Cary police are conducting an “investigation of the entire incident.”
Decker, the principal, said the actions in the video are “deeply concerning” and encouraged students and staff seeking support to reach out to school counselors.
“We hold a responsibility to ensure that all students feel safe and respected in our school communities,” Decker said. “The community, our students and our employees are still processing the many disturbing events that have taken place over the past several years.”
Gerald Givens Jr., president of the Raleigh-Apex NAACP, called the incident alarming, particularly in light of the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.
“The idea and the thought that someone would use that exact same tactic to restrain someone, especially a child, is very disturbing,” Givens said in an interview Friday.
Givens said Tuesday’s incident was brought up Wednesday during a virtual meeting of the N.C. NAACP’s executive committee, which was chaired by Deborah Dicks Maxwell, the state conference’s president.
The local NAACP believes officials should conduct a thorough investigation and will do its best to ensure the student’s rights are protected, Givens said. The NAACP hasn’t yet heard from student’s family, he added.
Under WCPSS policy, school employees may use “reasonable restraint or seclusion techniques with students” while trying to keep students safe, but are prohibited from physically restraining students in a manner that causes them “observable physical injury.”
The school system requires principals to notify a student’s parents by the end of the day if an employee has engaged in a prohibited use of restraint.
Principals must also provide a written report within 30 days of an incident taking place.
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This story was originally published December 10, 2021 at 8:40 AM.
