Students Suspended for Posting Photo of Principal 'Choking' Classmate

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Ten students were suspended from Pittsburg High School in California this week after posting a photo to Facebook and Instagram that appeared to show their principal, Todd Whitmire, putting a classmate in a chokehold.

Whitmire defended himself, saying the photo was taken out of context and that he was trying to restrain the student during a fight when she slipped and fell.

"I had separated her and she began struggling and I was pushing her away to get her away from the area and she fell down," he told the Contra Costa Times.

Still, he insists it wasn't the alleged distorting of the photo that led to the students' suspension, but rather concern for the teen in the photo.

"It was the reposting, the retweeting, and keeping it alive and assigning negative comments to it and creating a hostile environment [for the girl]," Whitmire said.

That girl, Ashley Johnson, says Whitmire had no reason to restrain her since she wasn't fighting back against the male student who attacked her, and accuses the principal of using too much force.

"I wasn't fighting back. I was lying on the ground," Johnson, who is currently in a neck brace, told KTVU.

Meanwhile, a school resource officer backs up Whitmire's side of the story, saying officers were made aware through social media that several students were planning to fight in the quad.

"During (the melee), staff members were pulling people away from one another," said Lt. Ron Raman. "The principal tried to pull a student away and she fell and he fell down with her."

Raman added that there was no evidence of battery, and no charges will be brought against Whitmire.

Seems to me like this principal shouldn't be using force to break up fights, I think the resource officers should be the one doing that.

 

[Marvolo]

Sometimes you just gotta chock a ***** out.

Just kidding

 

[Warhammer]

^

 

[Ultimatehero]

The students got penalized because of this? Yep, the school system is still a joke - the principal should be the one to get penalized, not the students reporting it.

 

[Ant-manic]

instead of getting it on their phones, why didn't one of those kids try to break up the fight?

 

[Victarion]

instead of getting it on their phones, why didn't one of those kids try to break up the fight?

Then how am I supposed to watch it on World Star?

 

[Spidey-Bat]

instead of getting it on their phones, why didn't one of those kids try to break up the fight?

Because they would have been suspended for getting involved in the fight. Oh, wait...

 

[Charlie Boy]

Awesome. This is my old high school.

 

[knowsbleed]

This picture reminds me of a poem by an esteemed wordsmith.


Go to sleep ho! Go to sleep ho! If you're tired, be quiet and go to sleep ho!

 

[Morbius]

It's clearly taken out of context. Where I come from, getting a girl in a choke hold is a way of salutation

 

[Mace Bloodstone]

Seems to me like this principal shouldn't be using force to break up fights, I think the resource officers should be the one doing that.

What if the resource officers are not close by, no one should intervene?


You feel the same way about the kid who got beat down on the bus, just let it continue like it did because no one should intervene other than the resource officers?

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/teens-filmed-school-bus-beating-sentenced-article-1.1441759

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

What if the resource officers are not close by, no one should intervene?


You feel the same way about the kid who got beat down on the bus, just let it continue like it did because no one should intervene other than the resource officers?

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/teens-filmed-school-bus-beating-sentenced-article-1.1441759

You can break up a fight without putting somebody into a choke hold, that is excessive. When you are an adult working for the school you have an implied responsibility to take care of the kids but if you take matters into your own hands and end up hurting them that's just as bad as not doing anything.

I'm not a big guy and if some kids are going at it I don't feel I would be adequate at preventing them from hurting each other without risking injury to myself or possibly them. If you feel it necessary to put yourself in that position that's all you. If I was a teacher in a school I would let the resource officers handle it unless it seemed one of the children was at risk of some very bad injuries

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

This picture reminds me of a poem by an esteemed wordsmith.


Go to sleep ho! Go to sleep ho! If you're tired, be quiet and go to sleep ho!

Am I the only one that thinks this is a rare case of something -not- going wrong?

The physical confrontation came about to stop a fight, and while she wasn't fight (yet), school officials had reports that students were -planning- on fighting.

He took measures to break up an already commenced melee, one that they had prior reports on.

Headline makes it sound like the Principal was randomly choking kids out. But in this context, I'm not necessarily fully against this.

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

Nell, I thought your avatar had a picture of Mother Theresa. lol

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

The picture was obviously photoshopped.

He was just giving her a hug so she wouldn't be so angry.

The police give black people similar hugs all the time.