Louisiana teacher's controversial arrest prompts flurry of hate mail – to Ohio
VERMILION, Ohio -- An Ohio police department receiving angry emails and Facebook messages about the controversial arrest of a teacher is asking the senders to stop for one key reason: It actually happened in a similarly named community in Louisiana. Police in Vermilion, Ohio, have received sometimes profane messages this week reacting to the Monday arrest in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana.
The Ohio department pointed out that detail on its Facebook page with a plea: "Please stop sending us your hate mail."
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The Ohio agency's chief, Christopher Hartung, told reporters he has messaged some individual commenters to explain that they're targeting the wrong place, and some have been apologetic.
The commenters were reacting to the video-recorded arrest of middle-school English teacher Deyshia Hargrave after she questioned the superintendent's salary at the parish school board meeting.
In dramatic video posted by KATC-TV, the teacher yells at the officer that he'd just pushed her to the ground. The officer orders her to "stop resisting."
A city marshal on duty at the meeting approached her as she continued to speak and directed her to leave the room. She was then apprehended in the hallway.
The teacher was booked into jail, but she will not be prosecuted.
Vermilion Parish Superintendent Jerome Puyau told CBS News' David Begnaud there are things he wishes he did differently at the board meeting. He vows the district will learn from this incident, but says the backlash has taken a toll on him and his family.
