A Charlotte mother says her teenage daughter was choked by another student inside a Rocky River High School bathroom yesterday while several classmates stood by and recorded the encounter on their phones. She told reporters she plans to pursue criminal charges as authorities continue to investigate.
According to WCNC Charlotte, the mother, Shantel Young, said the confrontation happened in a campus restroom and that school officials did not initially contact police. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police told the station the case is an active investigation. Young also told WCNC that the student accused of choking her daughter was suspended but is expected to return to campus. The station reported it reached out to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for comment and had not received a response.
State numbers add some broader context. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction reports that fewer than 1% of public school students committed a reportable offense in 2024–25, and that nearly 80% of schools recorded five or fewer reportable criminal acts, reflecting a statewide decline in such incidents. According to North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 44% of schools had zero reportable acts in 2024–25. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools outlines district discipline and behavior-support procedures on its website, which the district says include a range of interventions and consequences for code-of-conduct violations; the district page on student discipline explains those programs and options.
School response and parents’ concerns
Young says multiple students pulled out their phones and recorded the alleged choking and that those clips could factor into any official review, WCNC Charlotte reports. She told the station she intends to press charges to “keep her daughter safe” and has called on both school leaders and law enforcement to act. District officials have not publicly described any additional disciplinary measures beyond the reported suspension, according to the station’s coverage.
Legal options and what pressing charges could mean
Under North Carolina law, certain chokeholds are not just a school-discipline issue but can be criminal. N.C.G.S. § 14-32.4 classifies “assault another person and inflict physical injury by strangulation” as a Class H felony, and the statute appears on the North Carolina General Assembly website. If a parent files a complaint, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police would investigate, and the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office would decide whether to pursue charges, in line with the office’s publicly described process for handling referrals…