PLAQUEMINE, La. (WAFB/Gray News) – Surveillance cameras were rolling at a Louisiana elementary school Monday when a parent was seen slapping the principal hard enough to knock her out of a chair.
It happened during a basketball game after school in Plaquemine.
The Iberville Elementary School surveillance video was leaked to WAFB chief investigator Chris Nakamoto Thursday. It shows the principal trying to stop young children from walking onto the basketball court as a game was being played.
A review of the video by the WAFB I-Team shows that occurred at least twice.
Plaquemine police said the next thing that unfolded led to criminal charges for two adults.
“The principal sitting on the chair and three kids in tow and one of her friends,” Plaquemine Police Chief Stephen Engolio said. “The principal said to keep the kids off the court; it’s disrupting the game. She took offense to that. You see her move in on the teacher and she punched her and knocked her out the chair.”
The video then shows what appears to be a deputy who was at the school trying to break things up. The principal is then given a tissue as she’s seen wiping her face.
“She had a busted lip, was knocked out of her chair and hit her head,” Engolio said.
Plaquemine police arrested Alessia Parker and charged her with battery of a school teacher, resisting officers and disturbing the peace.
A woman who was with Parker, identified as Jemecia Godchaux, was also charged, although police said she did not hit the principal.
“Her cohort was egging her on and was cussing people out, too,” Engolio added. “They left and we couldn’t find them until the next day. The lady who hit her turned herself in the next day and the other we had to run her down.”
With Parker and Godchaux both facing felony charges over the melee, law enforcement in Iberville Parish said this behavior will not be tolerated, especially at a child’s basketball game.
Parker is being held on a $100,000 bond in the Iberville Parish jail. Godchaux is booked on new charges, plus police said she had some other pending bench warrants.
The WAFB I-Team reached out to the Iberville Parish School System and the principal who was attacked for a response.
Louis Voiron, superintendent of Iberville Schools, released a statement in response.
“That type of behavior is not going to be tolerated by the school system. The individuals involved have been banned from Iberville Parish Schools.”
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