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A classroom argument between a high school student and her math teacher escalated into a physical fight, and the confrontation was caught on video.
The incident took place in Stockton, at Cesar Chavez High School, and involved a 15-year-old Freshman identified as Marlina Martinez and and unidentified teacher, according to ABC7.
The clash was over Martinez' use of makeup in the classroom. The teacher asked her to put it away, and when she did not, the teacher confiscated the cosmetics. Martinez then used her cellphone to call her mom so her mom could ask the teacher to return the items to the girl.
After a verbal argument, during which time Martinez uses foul language, the fight turns physical. Who threw the first slug, however, was something the two fought about during the confrontation, explains the Stockton Record:
"You put your hands on me right now again and I swear to God I'm going to hit you," Martinez says. The teacher responds, "You put your hands on me and I'll put my hands on you."
Finally, Martinez appears to take a step toward the teacher, possibly bumping her.
Martinez says the teacher was the aggressor: "She pushed me and then she started going like (swings). Right after she pushed me, she started hitting me," the teen said.
The student's mom agreed:
Joanna Reynoso, the mother of 15-year-old Marlina Martinez, said that based on her viewing of the video and the comments of student eyewitnesses, "The teacher's the one that started it; the teacher's the one that pushed her; the teacher told her, 'Well I'll put my hands on you, too.' " Reynoso said the same teacher also "got into my daughter's face" in January.
As a result of the brawl, the teacher was injured, and has gone on paid leave. Martinez was arrested by school cops for assault.
The fight "has the Stockton Unified School District not only investigating but examining its overall school security measures," notes News10.net.
