School coach tased after assaulting student, Athletic Director, police say | Crime

ROWAN COUNTY, NC (WBTV) - Sheriff's deputies had to deploy a taser to get control of a coach who allegedly assaulted a student and an athletic director at a Rowan County middle school Thursday afternoon.

Jared Gallagher, of Kannapolis, is an assistant football coach and In-School Suspension teacher's assistant at Corriher-Lipe Middle School in Landis.

Following football practice Thursday evening, the 40-year-old coach pulled a 12-year-old boy aside as they were walking to the locker room. Gallagher allegedly started hitting and choking the boy.

Douglas Pruitt, a football coach and Physical Education teacher at the school, said he told Gallagher to stop, but then Gallagher started attacking Pruitt.

Pruitt attempted to call 911, but Gallagher grabbed his arm and pulled it behind his back, the report said.

A nearby parent got Gallagher's attention and began fighting him so that Pruitt could dial 911.

Pruitt told officers "punches were exchanged between Gallagher and the parent."

After Pruitt made the phone call, he told the parent to back off.

Both the Landis Police Department and the Rowan County Sheriff's Office responded to the school.

When deputies arrived, Pruitt told them Gallagher was "acting violently and needed to be restrained," the report said.

Pruitt told deputies Gallagher assaulted and tried to strangle a seventh-grade student and assaulted a parent.

The officer instructed Gallagher to put his hands behind his back, but he took another step toward the officer and asked, "Are we going to do this?"

The deputy pulled out his Taser device and, again, asked Gallagher to place his hands behind his back, but Gallagher didn't obey and was shocked by the deputy.

Gallagher reportedly pulled the Taser prongs from his skin and was then shocked from behind by another deputy.

After a third shock, Gallagher fell to the ground and was restrained by officers.

The report said after Gallagher was restrained, assistant principal Gary Barringer approached the officers and told them Gallagher had keys to the school that he needed to take.

When deputies searched Gallagher's truck for the keys, they found a 9 mm pistol with 79 live rounds of ammunition, according to the report.

A spokeswoman for the Rowan-Salisbury School System said Gallagher has been suspended without pay pending an investigation.

Deputies spoke with the 12-year-old who was assaulted. The report said he appeared "visibly shaken", but was not seriously injured.

Gallagher was charged with one misdemeanor count each of child abuse, assault on a school official, resisting a police officer, and possessing weapons on campus. He was booked at the Rowan County Detention Center and was released on a $5,000 secured bond.

Gallagher is scheduled to appear in Rowan County District Court on Wednesday, Sept. 28.

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