Teacher forcibly removed, arrested at school board meeting
Raw video: Louisiana woman led away in handcuffs after speaking out at Vermilion Parish School Board meeting after questioning the members and its superintendent about his raise.
In dramatic fashion, a Louisiana middle school teacher was removed from a school board meeting in handcuffs Monday night after she spoke out about teacher pay.
Deyshia Hargrave, an English languages arts teacher at Rene Rost Middle Schools in Kaplan, confronted school board members during the public comments section of the meeting and was escorted out the second time she approached the podium – resulting in a scuffle in the hallway.
Video posted by KATC-TV shows Hargrave screaming at an Abbeville city marshal after he allegedly pushed her to the ground.
“Stop resisting,” the officer is heard telling her after she was placed in handcuffs. She is heard responding: “I am not – you just pushed me to the floor. Sir, hold on, I am way smaller than you.”
According to KATC-TV, Hargrave addressed the school board during the public comments portion of the meeting focused on teacher salaries and pay raises.
Deyshia Hargrave, an English language arts teacher in Kaplan, L.A., spoke out on teacher before being removed in handcuffs. (Screenshot from KATC-TV)
Board president Anthony Fontana ruled Hargrave “out of order” after she posed several questions – and it was not a question-and-answer period.
The teacher was called upon a second time for comment and, after posing another question, the unidentified Abbeville city deputy marshal on duty grabbed Hargrave and removed her from the meeting.
It was then that the skirmish happened, in what appeared to be a hallway, while the cameras rolled.
Hargrave was placed in handcuffs before she was escorted from the building.
It’s unclear if the marshal received orders from board members or if he was acting on his own. The deputy marshal is a school resource officer who works in Vermilion Parish schools.
The superintendent of Vermillion Parish schools, of which Rene Rost Middle School is a part of, told KATC-TV that the school board will not press charges against Hargrave.
However, Hargrave was booked into the city jail for “remaining after being forbidden” and resisting an officer, KATC-TV reported Tuesday.
City prosecutor Ike Funderburk told the news station that school officials reiterated Tuesday that they were not interested in pressing charges. A teacher’s union lawyer is investigating.
The Vermillion Parish schools referred questions to Fontana, who did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment. The Abbeville Marshals Office has not returned phone calls seeking comment.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
