Father arrested after police say he threatened student over bullying son

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A father arrested and charged with going into a school and threatening a student said he was trying to protect his son from bullies.

Billy Cobb says he never threatened anyone and was a peacemaker that day.

Clayton County School Police arrested Cobb Tuesday and charged him with disorderly conduct and disruption with the operation of a public school.

Channel 2's Tom Jones talked to Cobb after he was released on bond. He broke down trying to explain his frustration trying to get school administrators to do something about students who had been bullying his son for months.

"It's gets emotional, man," Cobb said fighting back the tears. "I'm just tired of it. I'm tired of it. I'm sick and tired of it. I'm very frustrated."

Cobb said while the bullying has been going on for months, this incident began after he got a text message from his son's friend.

"'You need to come to the school around 3:05, 3:10. Some people trying to jump him,'" he said, reading from the text.

Cobb said he went to the school, checked in at the front office and began looking for the principal to discuss the text.

He said a teacher told him the principal was in the cafeteria and once there his son told him the principal was talking to the students who planned to jump him.

Police said that's when Cobb used the N-word with one of the students and told him he would kick him in the face. Officers also said they had to remove more than 300 students from the cafeteria because of the disruption.

Cobb said he never used the racial slur and never threatened to kick the student in the face. He says he did tell one of the boys to leave his son alone.

"The young boy jumps out of his chair, 'We squashed that.' I'm talking about real aggressive. I said, 'Hold on, who (are you) talking to?'" Cobb recounted.

That's when officers arrested Cobb.

He said he has complained to the school about his son being bullied over and over again. He said it's taking a toll on his son.

"It's affecting his demeanor at home as well as his performance at school. They need to take this bullying seriously," Cobb said.

Cobb's son Michael said the bullies pick on him because he's quiet and walks away when they try to fight him. He thinks his father shouldn't have been arrested.

"He was just a parent being a parent," Michael said.

A spokesman for the school district sent an email to Jones saying the school system is on fall break until Monday and couldn't get a response about Cobb's comments about the bullying.

Cobb told Jones he is considering removing his son from the school.

WSBTV