WADESBORO — Statement by Anson County Schools Superintendent Howard McLean regarding student altercation at Anson High School on January 31, 2023:
On January 31, 2023, two students were involved in an altercation at Anson High School. Principal Chris Stinson, together with a school resource officer, had met with the two students shortly before the altercation to try to defuse a situation between them. Both students had indicated that they understood there was to be no altercation and agreed there would not be one. Not long afterwards, one of the students attacked the other in the midst of a large crowd of students gathering for release at the end of the school day and for a ballgame. Principal Chris Stinson was very near to the students and immediately tried to break up the fight. He used what appeared to be reasonable force to try to separate the two students and was struck in the jaw while doing so. Principal Stinson pulled the student who initiated the fight away from the other student while that student was still resisting.
Mr. Stinson appeared to be under control throughout the situation and is specifically authorized by law to use reasonable force to control behavior or to remove a person from the scene in situations when it is necessary to quell a disturbance threatening injury to others, for self-defense, for the protection of people or property, or to maintain order on educational property. School employees are expected to act to intervene in altercations between students and to act appropriately when doing so.
In videos of the incident, Mr. Stinson clearly has his arm across the student’s shoulders, from behind, and under his chin, but he denies choking the student. The student did not complain of being choked during the incident, after the incident, or at any time when he was detained by school resource officers following the incident.
The school investigation is ongoing, as is the investigation by the Wadesboro Police Department. Mr. Stinson is a highly respected and valued school administrator who acted quickly to break up a fight and to prevent further injury to a student who had been attacked.