Mom speaks out after being arrested at elementary school

HENDERSON, Tenn. — Investigators made another arrest following an incident at a school in Chester County. The parent who recorded the encounter with police now also faces a criminal charge.

The mom arrested Thursday at East Chester Elementary School broke her silence Friday. Tereca Pearson asked us to disguise her identity out of fear of retaliation.

“As I put my hands behind my back, somehow all of them ambushed me down to the ground,” she said.

Pearson faces disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and harassment charges. She said she went to pick up her child after getting a call from the nurse.

“The lady got to telling me that I shouldn’t have sent her to school with a cough, basically, and that she was going to basically call DCS on me,” she said.

Pearson claimed police ambushed her.

“He yanked my arm and was pulling at me and I was telling him, no stop I haven’t done anything wrong. I just came to get my child,” she said.

According to an arrest warrant, deputies said they got a call about a parent threatening to “beat the school nurse’s [expletive].”

Pearson said she did not threaten anyone and claimed an officer “manhandled” her.

“I got bruises all on my arms where the officer was yanking me,” she said.

Henderson Police Chief Gary Davidson declined to comment on camera Friday, but said they take school security seriously and if there’s a threat they are going to remove it.

The woman who recorded the video, Princess McClellan, now also faces a disorderly conduct charge. According to an arrest warrant, McClellan is accused of pushing the principal.

McClellan said she did not hit anyone.

“The lady had a scream that was so terrifying that it scared me that I tried to bogart my way into the office to see what was going on,” she said.

Pearson said the situation should have been handled differently.

“Maybe we should have had a conference between me, the principal, and our actually and the nurse that actually said I threatened her because that was a lie,” she said.

Police said the incident is still under investigation.

Pearson and McClellan are both out on bond. Both women said they are not allowed on the school property.