'Made Me Sick:' Yukon Mother Says Son Pinned To The Ground By School Employee

Yukon Police said they are investigating a physical confrontation between a middle school employee and a student, an incident that led to the employee's resignation.

A video showed a man apparently using his knee to pin a 14-year-old boy to the ground. The man could be heard saying, "Step out of the library please," as other students walked by. The boy being pinned was nearly motionless in the video.

The eighth-grader's mother, Toni Parsons, said the incident happened inside the library at Yukon Middle School on Friday.

Parsons said her son had been banned from the school library. But he went inside anyway to buy popcorn. Parsons said her son was then told to return the popcorn he had bought. When he kept walking away, Parsons said the school employee grabbed her son from behind.

"(My son) said that (the school employee) put him in a chokehold and slammed him to the ground and put his knee in his chest," Parsons said. "Our kids are not safe and my son should be able to go to school and be safe."

Parsons said she learned about the incident after getting a text from her son. She said she was frustrated because other school employees did not report the incident to police immediately after it happened. Instead, she said her son was sent back to class.

"It was hard to even believe that it happened because there was no police. Nobody reported anything. It wasn't until maybe 36 minutes later when finally he said the head principal's going to call you," said Parsons.

Parsons said on Monday, she saw the video of her son getting pinned. She said she then went to the police because she wanted to pursue charges.

"Made me sick, wanted to puke," Parsons said of her reaction to the video. 

After News 9 reached out to Yukon Public Schools, the district released the following statement:

"Yukon Public Schools acknowledges the incident that occurred Friday afternoon at Yukon Middle School. Yukon Middle School and the YPS superintendent contacted the mother of the student Friday afternoon. Following the incident, the YPS employee was immediately put on administrative leave and has since tendered his resignation, effective immediately. The district has been in constant contact with the Yukon Police Department during the investigation."

A YPS spokesperson said because this is an open investigation, the district would not release additional information, including the employee's name.

Parsons then shared her reaction to the school district's statement.

"Just resigning is not enough," said Parsons. "I mean, how do we know what hasn't been done to kids that are not speaking up?"

Yukon Police told News 9 they are investigating a physical confrontation between a school employee and a student that led to the employee subduing the student on the ground until the student became calm. Police said based on witness statements, the employee then picked up the student and they both walked off.

Police said no one had been arrested as of Tuesday and the investigation is ongoing. At the end of the investigation, a decision will be made on whether to present charges to the district attorney, police said.

News 9 is not identifying the school employee or showing his face because he has not been arrested or charged with a crime.