October 25, 2025
Student Faces Felony Assault Charge After Altercation With School Resource Officer
SMITHFIELD – A student at Smithfield-Selma High School is facing charges following a violent altercation with a school resource officer on campus Monday morning.
According to authorities, the incident occurred at the school located on M. Durwood Stephenson Parkway after a teacher reported an 18-year-old student, Amare Lakin Miller of Smithfield, was acting irate and could not be calmed.
A female school resource officer responded to the classroom and attempted to escort Miller to the front office. According to an arrest warrant, Miller became physically combative, allegedly headbutting the officer, spitting in her face, and kicking her multiple times in the legs.
The officer sustained minor injuries during the incident but did not require medical treatment.
Miller was eventually restrained and taken into custody. He was transported to the Johnston County Detention Center, where he was charged with felony assault on a law enforcement officer and misdemeanor disorderly conduct. He was held on a $30,000 secured bond.
Johnston County Public Schools stated they had not been made aware of the incident when contacted for comment.
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I bet the school board had not been notified about the incident. They had to get their sh__ together before the public so they had to contact the attorney and know what to say. He’ll probably be slapped on the wrist and allowed back in school next year which is a shame.
Lock him up , these kids have no respect. U headbutt a WOMAN??? why?? . But I am a strong believer that women shouldn’t be security or law enforcing officers
The fatigue is real.
he is 18, put him in jail for a long time. He is a good for nothing with no respect for teachers and Law Enforcement. He does not need to go back to school and get an education.
Boy, it’s a good thing that you, Justice, and you, Thatsright, aren’t educators. He’s a kid, and I would bet he’s had nothing but hard knocks all his life. The problem is having police in the schools. We need to call a resource officer what it is, a reduced cop, someone whose very presence in the schools is not conducive to the creation of a learning environment. Open your minds and get some education.
Your can of beans has gone bad.
You are living in a fantasy world and have not been in a high school in Joco in years. Otherwise you would not be so clueless. Besides the fighting, drugs and disorderly conduct by students, bad behaved parents are an additional problem. Have you seen the school shootings across the country already this year? If a student is having a bad experience with the SRO then it’s the student who is the problem, not the highly trained SRO with specialized training in CIT, descalation, juvenile sensitivity trading and 40 hours of SRO school. The positive relationships and mentoring they do keep the ones balancing on the fence straight. As far as the gang member already lost to the streets because of no parenting and poor peer groups are a threat to the rest of the kids and have to be dealt with accordingly…
Highly trained SRO. LOL, talk about living in a fantasy world. Their very presence is a contraindication to an educational mission.
Beans, that is a truly ridiculous comment. There are a lot of “kids” that have had a hard life that end up doing great things without committing crimes. Also, an 18 year-old is an adult, not a kid.
A school resource officer is a “reduced cop?” Really? They go through the same training as every other officer and then have to go through training to be a school resource officer. There are some really good ones who make tremendous impacts on students. School resource officers actually are conducive to create a learning environment. They allow students and staff to be in that environment without fear that someone will come into the school and do harm. Is it always effective? No. Nothing is. But you have to look at how many times a school resource officer has taken down an assailant who wanted to do harm to those inside of the school. You also need to understand that without school resource officers there would be so many more attacks on schools.
He can vote and serve in our military. He’s an adult
And who will break up the fights? How about the assaults on teachers and substitutes? Oh yeah, and who will control the drug trafficking? And who will respond to the various threats within the school? You clearly have no idea what is going on in schools. My kids have attended and are still attending these schools…we definitely need our SROs.
I went to SSS from 2015-2019, I Promise you if Deputy Swolbert was there, no way this would have ended well for this man child. There were some heavy hitters back then but they didn’t mess with him… we all felt safe when he was there…
He’s 18, he’s an adult, he has no business being in a high-school with kids. If an individual becomes an adult prior to the school year they should finish a high-school equivalent GED at a community college. For example if they turn 18 their sophomore year, they should not be admitted their junior year and so on.
As an adult he’s probably just frustrated being around so many children. So remove him. As an adult he can seek further education assistance himself.
Rickey, if you think turning 18 makes someone an adult, brother, then you need to go back to school yourself. Read your bible and learn about compassion.
Compassion does not mean excused from consequence. 18 is an adult in the eyes of the law. Life is about choices and choices have consequences.
People like you are why this continues to happen in our country.
Set an example. Prison time.
He is an adult.
You are correct Allen. People like you are responsible for the failures of society toward this troubled young man.
And your children go to school with these types of students every day. It will be dismissed as a “manifestation” of his learning disability and receive little consequence. Just think, if the child was 17 you wouldn’t even hear about. Still think public schools are good? I’ve seen way too many incidents like this in my 30 years…..
This child was battling with mental health issues and was been bullied in silence and we blessed it didn’t go worse than it did TBH… Smh what if this was your child going through this? Y’all let’s pray for better day’s and more and better mental health help.
why was he in a HS then.
You just sent him so you didnt have to deal with him on your own during the day.
You are part of the problem.
Whoa, thats the stinging truth, No personal accountability. Let the school, cops or community deal with these troubled people instead of parents or family dealing with it…
The old “mental health” and bullying excuse. It seems to me the more people talk about mental health help, the worse it gets. How about good old fashioned parenting and personal accountability instead of making excusing and rationalizing poor behavior and choices. This young adult is a threat to the safety of everyone at the school.
Treat him as an adult. Send him tp prison. They will help him with the mental health issues.
I don’t understand why any teacher chooses to teach in Johnston County. The students, principals, and board make it seem miserable to work here.
So the school didn’t feel a police officer assaulted on their campus was worthy of contacting the county? What kind of incompetence is running that school?
“Johnston County Public Schools stated they had not been made aware of the incident when contacted for comment.”
Yea that doesnt seem right. They should have just said “no comment” how could they not be aware?
In the this world, people are either doing good things, bad things, or doing nothing. If people with mental health problems cannot be positively influenced through outpatient treatments, they need to be placed into a mental hospital for longstanding treatment options. Not roaming around punching police officers in the face. If they have no mental illness, but still commit crimes, they must be placed in jail. It is all about accountability. Stop making excuses for folks. If they can be successfully rehabilitated, great. If they cannot be civil in a civilized society, they need to be in a mental hospital or jail. There is no reason why law-abiding citizens in every community cannot live safely in their neighborhoods and their surrounding communities.
Agreed, unfortunately we will need to fund to build or find space for all these people who claim to be, or are, Mentally challenged violent offenders. Like the old Insane Asylums, but we can call them something more socially acceptable…