FLINT, MI -- A substitute teacher at a Flint elementary school is facing more than a dozen counts of assault and battery after police say he duct taped the mouths of 16 students at a Flint elementary school.

The city announced Friday, Jan. 17, that city prosecutors authorized the misdemeanor warrant Wednesday, Jan. 15, against the teacher stemming from the Dec. 3 incident at Brownell STEM Academy. The name of the teacher was not released pending arraignment.

Flint school spokesman Bob Campbell declined to comment on the case while the district reviews the charges.

Details on the alleged incident emerged after Flint school interim Superintendent Larry Watkins sent an email to school board that was provided to The Flint Journal by school board member David Davenport.

Watkins alleged in the email that the substitute teacher taped the mouth of a student. He said the substitute "since has been fired from the district."

The email claimed that the substitute teacher filed a police report accusing the school's principal of assault, alleging that the principal took tape from a student's hand and "aggressively placed it on the mouth of (the substitute teacher) causing laceration to his upper lip" after the teacher allegedly taped the student's mouth.

Flint Police Chief James Tolbert ordered an investigation into the allegations.

City Prosecutor Peter Bade said he declined to file charges against the principal because allegations made substitute were not credible.

The teacher faces 15 misdemeanor charges of assault and battery. No court date is on file.