Holly MatkinChalmette, LA – Cell phone footage captured the moment when a Chalmette High School teacher was punched in the face while trying to break up a fight inside her classroom late last week (video below).
The incident occurred shortly before 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 16, The Times-Picayune reported.
Chaos erupted as the two 15-year-old males repeatedly hit and tackled one another inside their 10th-grade classroom, cell phone footage showed.
When their teacher stepped in and attempted to separate them, one of the students punched her in the face, knocking her head backwards and causing her to yell out in pain.
Additional students jumped into the fray and broke up the brawl after their teacher was injured, the video showed.
St. Bernard Parish Sheriff James Pohlmann said both teens were arrested for battery of a school teacher, WVUE reported.
Their names were not released because they are juveniles.
The teacher’s identity was also not immediately released.
St. Bernard Parish Public Schools Superintendent Doris Voitier said the violent brawl has outraged the Chalmette High student body, WWL reported.
“When I saw the video, I was appalled,” Voitier told WVUE. “Our teacher shouldn’t be involved in an environment like that and our students should have ways to settle their differences.”
She noted that incidents like this have become more frequent than they were prior to the school shutdowns that occurred during the pandemic.
“(Students are having) much more difficulty in settling differences and talking through problems that they have,” Voitier told WWL. “We’re seeing that portrayed not only within our schools but the community at large. So, we need more support for the students for the families and for the community.”
The superintendent said students must be “held accountable” for their actions and that they need to “realize that actions have consequences.”
“We’re hoping that students learn that in the protective environment of school,” she added.
In addition to the criminal charges, they will also face disciplinary proceedings through the school system, the superintendent told WVUE.
Both students have been suspended.
Voitier said the teacher who was assaulted is continuing to recover.
“She’s bruised,” she told WVUE. “Her nose is not broken but she is bruised and very upset – as would anyone be.”
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. Warning – Graphic Content and Obscene Language:
Fight video pic.twitter.com/QLspAr4gxW
— z (@nozwtw) September 16, 2022
