Hall County

Substitute teacher accused of assaulting middle school students

By Rikki Klaus
By Rikki Klaus

GAINESVILLE, Ga. — Police say it was his first and last day on the job. A Gainesville City Schools substitute teacher is accused of twisting children's arms behind their backs.

Clindon Middleton is facing two charges of simple assault for an incident caught on camera at Gainesville Middle School.

“I know what happened to him; he did not deserve it,” said Kala Chatman, whose son attends the school.

Chatman said told Channel 2’s Rikki Klaus that she wants Middleton to never work with kids again after he allegedly grabbed two sixth graders' wrists and twisted their arms behind their backs.

“We’re not going to have someone acting inappropriately in our school system,” Sgt. Kevin Holbrook with the Hall County Police Department said.

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Holbrook said the incident was caught on video, which he said was valuable evidence but they cannot release it during an ongoing investigation. Chatman has not seen it.

“The kids in the classroom took the video and took pictures and were hollering that this is child abuse,” Chatman told Klaus.

“No teacher is supposed to put their hands on you roughly, any kind of way that you feel threatened,” Holbrook said.

The mother is thankful the boys were not badly hurt.

"My son, Fuchure, he has a lung problem, so he could have twisted my son up to where he could have had an asthma attack, couldn’t breathe, anything, and that’s not OK,” Chatman said.

Gainesville City Schools said they reported the incidents to the Department of Family and Children’s Services and the teacher no longer works in the district.

But Chatman is concerned he could get a job elsewhere.

“The next kid, he could really hurt them. You never know,” Chatman said.

Klaus also spoke with the other child's mother, who said her son's arm was twisted like a pretzel.

Cox Media Group

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