BOTHELL, Wash. – Prosecutors are considering criminal charges against a Washington state high school teacher after he allegedly staged an attack by a student in his shop class this spring.

Wood shop teacher Cal Pygott told police he was working on a loud machine in his classroom at Bothell High School while wearing ear protection when someone attacked him from behind and knocked him unconscious May 19, KING 5 reports.

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Pygott said that when he came to he had a zip tie around his neck and red and swollen face. As he stumbled into the hallway, another staff member helped remove the zip tie and called 911. Emergency dispatchers took him to Harborview Medical Center, where he was treated for minor injuries.

Detectives investigating the alleged crime recovered a hammer and zip tie, a piece of butcher paper with message “This man is not God” scrawled on it, as well as fingerprints, at the scene, WFMY reports.

“Throughout the investigation, inconsistencies were apparent between Mr. Pygott’s statement and the evidence observed and collected,” Bothell Police Sgt. Ken Seuberlich told the news site.

Seuberlich said a review of surveillance video from the school also conflicted with the teacher’s story.

“We looked at lots of hours of video surveillance, and one of the issues we noticed was there was no suspect in the video surveillance,” he said.

Pygott continued to stick to his story.

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Days after the ordeal, the teacher told KIRO the alleged attack “is not going to turn me into a victim.”

“I appreciate everyone’s wishes and support,” he said in May. “Physically, I’m doing fine. I’m on the mend. I look better than I did on Friday. Emotions are still up and down.”

Seuberlich said police eventually asked Pygott to take a polygraph test, and the results showed he was likely lying.

Police confronted the teacher with the test results, and lack of a suspect on the video surveillance, and Pygott allegedly confessed to staging the attack.

Pygott allegedly told police why he made up the story, but officials refused to divulge the reason to the public.

KING 5 contacted Pygott about the incident this week, but he refused to comment.

“It was challenging, but it was an anomaly,” Bothell High School principal Bob Stewart told the news site. “This is not anything that is normal in the life of a school. From the beginning, it was odd, it was strange, it was difficult. But we worked through it.”

District officials placed Pygott on paid administrative leave this week.

“We don’t support the actions or the decisions Mr. Pygott made, but we support him as a human being,” Northshore School District superintendent Michelle Reid said. “And he clearly made a mistake, and the mistake has huge consequences.”