BARTOW, Fla. — A Florida middle school teacher is facing felony child abuse charges after she struck two juveniles outside the McDonald’s in Bartow.
According to The Ledger, a verbal fight between a group of students at a Friday night Bartow High School basketball game migrated to the fast-food restaurant’s lobby, and police said Liquindella Clark “aggressively approached one of the students who had been arguing with her child.”
Clark, a sixth-grade math teacher, was reportedly escorted to the parking lot by an unidentified man after she threatened the juvenile, the newspaper reported.
According to police, Clark waited in the parking lot until the juveniles exited the building, at which point a physical fight erupted during which she struck one juvenile in the head and hit another girl in the face and removed her wig, WFLA reported.
Clark was arrested at the scene early Saturday morning and released Sunday. Neither juvenile was seriously injured, The Ledger reported.
Polk County Public Schools spokesman Jason Geary confirmed to the newspaper that Clark, who joined the district in August 2008, “will be placed on paid administrative leave” when teachers return to school Tuesday following the Presidents Day holiday.