Can I sue if my vice principal has threatened to strangle me with my tie?

It sounds like the principle,has committed assault - assault when someone causes you to be in fear of bodily harm. Unfortunately in the Astarte of New York, the police do not like to make arrests if the assault is not also accompanied with battery, meaning the principle has to physically assault you in order to have the police get involved. In terms of a Tort action for personal injury, in New York in order to sue you need to have sustained physical injury.

Your principal is making a joke. You do not have the right to sue everyone who says or does something that you do not like. He has a right if free speech. We cannot become so P C that we lose the ability to speak to each other or in public as that chills our precious right to free speech that is guaranteed to us as Americans.