This event comes as schools are finding it increasingly difficult to staff classrooms. The Pembroke Pines Police Department in Florida provided Newsweek with a police report from the incident which occurred on March 2 at the Pine Lakes Elementary School.
The police report said that officers with the Pembroke Pines Police Department were called to the school after the unidentified teacher reported that she “needed support” on the school’s radio system. When police arrived, an officer noticed the teacher in a room in what they described as a “faint state.” The police report also noted that the teacher “was clearly weak and dazed” when they arrived.
According to the police report, the responding officer was informed that a 4-year-old student and a 5-year-old student became engaged in an altercation—the two students throwing items around the classroom and even flipping chairs.
Amid the altercation between the two students, the unidentified teacher attempted to remove the 5-year-old student from the room and bring him to a “cool down” room, the police report said. The “cool down” room was described as an empty smaller classroom.
The police report said that after the teacher brought the 5-year-old student to the “cool down” room, the teacher was allegedly attacked by the 5-year-old with hands, fists and feet.
According to the police report, when officers arrived to the school following the incident, the unidentified teacher “began coughing and dry heaving,” prompting the responding officer to place the teacher on her side “to maintain an open airflow and prevent possible choking.”
The officer attempted to get a response from the teacher who was allegedly attacked, but the officer did not receive one. The report said that the teacher “continued to blink and breathe regularly but at no point was able to vocally respond or show signs of a response.”
“Rescue then got to the room and immediately got her on the stretcher,” the police report said. “Rescue advised they would be transporting her to Memorial Regional Hospital.”
Amanda Conwell, a public information officer for the Pembroke Pines Police Department told Newsweek that the teacher involved in the incident “has since returned home and is not under hospital care.”
“Due to the child being below the age of reason, no arrests have been made at this time and no charges were filed with the State Attorney’s Office,” Conwell told Newsweek. “The child and their family were referred to Child Protective Services for additional resources. Our investigation is still active, however, so this information may change.”
