Jacksonville mom speaks out after being accused of assaulting high school students

A Jacksonville mom is defending her actions after she was caught on video fighting with high school students.

Cellphone video showed a fight that happened in the middle of the hall at Wolfson High School on Tuesday and a mom was in the middle of it.

“When your child is being attacked by anybody for that matter, you go in mommy mode. You go in defense mode, and pushing her is not resulting in any kind of physical harm,” mother, Latasha Troche said.

Troche said she came to the school to alert administrators about students who, she said, threatened to attack her daughter.

But when she walked onto campus, the students came out of their classrooms and she said they went after her child.

“I pushed the girl out the way and she swung at me. When she swung at me, I pushed her again and then I got tackled basically by three teachers,” Troche said.

She said an officer intervened and separated everyone.

The video appeared to show people pushing and shoving and some throwing punches, but Troche said she was just protecting her daughter.

“I didn’t attack anybody’s student, or kid, or child I pushed her, she swung at me, she hit me. My intentions were not to hit anybody’s kid. My intentions were to try to protect my daughter from getting jumped, and that was it,” Troche said.

A spokesperson for Duval County Public Schools sent Action News Jax the following statement:

"Violence on our campuses is simply unacceptable. We are thankful for the swift action of our school security team, administrators and school police who were able to intervene within seconds. We ask that both parents, guardians, and students discuss this incident and reflect on their roles in ensuring our schools are safe and positive learning environments."

Troche said she doesn’t regret pushing the student.

She also said she doesn’t feel schools are safe for kids.

Now, she plans on pulling her child out of the school.

“As a mother, it’s hard to watch your kid being abused. It’s hard to have, not be able to protect your kid, and that’s how I felt at that moment. When I was being held and they were attacking her, I felt like I couldn’t defend my child,” Troche said.

Cox Media Group