It happened in front of the school, where witnesses described a chaotic scene.
"I jumped out of the car from across the street, ran across here to break them up," said eyewitness Michael Wood.
Wood's wife, Maqresha Shelton, is now in jail on assault charges. HISD police say the 31-year-old mom tried picking up her child by accessing a closed gate during dismissal. They say she attacked the teacher when the woman insisted Shelton use the proper pickup location. Woods claims it was the teacher who pushed his wife too far.
"This lady took a stack of blue folders, I don't know what it is, and she pushed my wife in the chest once with it. My wife looked at her, walked away from her and grabbed her child's hand, and told her to come on. And then she pushed her again and told her you cannot go out of this gate," Wood said.
Woods and his wife claim they've had issues with the Durkee teacher for several months now. We talked to Shelton over the phone as she called her husband from jail.
"She didn't have to put her hands on me. You don't put your hands on nobody," Shelton told us over the phone.
She told Eyewitness News the teacher stabbed her in the leg with a pen. And the arrested mom and her husband say the problem didn't have to get this far.
"I tried to avoid her. I went one way. I went another way. I went around the lady several times. Me and my son made it out the gate and she still put her hands on me," Shelton said.
For now, the school district has not released details about the teacher's condition. Shelton told us she's also looking into pressing charges against the teacher.
