Several students at a Memphis high school have faced discipline for their part in a fight that cellphone video shows broke out between a teacher and a student.
That viral video shows a fight between a teacher in a purple shirt and a student in a wife beater at Trezevant High School on Tuesday. The video cuts off after a student resource officer is seen attempting to separate the pair before several other students swarm the fight.
Shelby County Commissioner Charlie Caswell Jr. told Fox13 he believes as many as 50 people were involved.
“Some of them may just have received subpoenas,” Caswell said. “That means they may have to address what happened that day.”
While multiple students were disciplined, school administrators haven’t released details on whether the teacher has been penalized for his role.
Memphis police reported that the fight started in the school cafeteria between students. A male teacher stepped in to break them up and while he escorted one student away, another ran behind him, so the teacher grabbed him. Then, the student swung at him and hit him in the face.
Watch the video below:
Fox13 spoke with the 16-year-old student who police said hit the teacher. Taquaviyon Craft said he was also struck in the face by the teacher.
“He was constantly pushing me and I was telling him all of that force wasn’t needed and I was still walking and he was constantly pushing me,” Taquaviyon said. “He pushed me again and that’s when I got angry and fought back.”
His mother, Lakita Craft, said she saw a heavy police presence when she pulled up to the school.
“As I got to the school, I saw all of these police cars and I was like, ‘What’s going on?'” Craft said. Craft added she believed the school didn’t do enough to de-escalate the altercation.
One student suspended for participating in the fight said he believed the teacher was in the wrong.
“He pushed him and he wasn’t supposed to get that aggressive with the student,” the student, who remained anonymous, told WREG. “Teachers can’t touch students.”
Parents had mixed reactions to the fight.
“Everyone has to be held accountable. If the teacher puts hands on him first then of course the student is going to react. Ain’t no student going to let anybody put their hand on them, whether it’s an adult or another child,” LaDarrel Young said.
“The teacher should not be penalized for that. You actually have to hold the people accountable who started the fight – that was the child,” another parent told WREG.
Just last month, police arrested the mother of one Trezevant student who shot at a classmate he fought with. The student was checked out of the school by his mother after the fight but returned with a handgun. Once school ended, he approached two people leaving the building and opened fire, then fled the scene with his mother. No one was hurt.
Deborah Rawls was charged with accessory after the fact, two charges of attempted murder in the first degree, possession of firearm/dangerous felony, reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, and carrying a weapon on school property.
