A middle school student at East Middle School in Farmington Hills claimed this week that a teacher assaulted him for sitting during the pledge of allegiance. Following the incident, during which he says a teacher “snatched” him from his seat, his father is going to bat for his son, asserting his civil rights and freedom to opt out of the nationalistic ritual.

According to Brian Chaney, his eleven-year-old son Stone “was in homeroom class the first week of school when a teacher snatched him out of his seat and forced him to stand for the pledge,” Detroit ABC affiliate WXYZ reported this week.

Stone started sitting out the pledge in second grade after his father explained to him he had the right to not participate. Stone says he only pledges allegiance to God and his family, not the flag, and his father says it hasn’t been a problem until now.

“For him to be violently snatched out of his chair by a lady and order him to stand and for her to just glare at him, it’s wrong, it’s a violation of civil rights,” Brian said.

Stone says other students simply snickered at him, so after the incident, he put his head down in class. He also says another teacher reprimanded him for sitting out the pledge that same week, demanding written permission for refraining.

Read more at AntiMedia.