Mother considers legal action after daughter's arrest

WAUWATOSA -- A Wauwatosa mother is considering legal action because she says her 14-year-old daughter was taken away in handcuffs for something she says she didn't do.

Elyssia Carter and another student were arrested Thursday after an incident in the cafeteria at Wauwatosa West High School.

"She threw a piece of lettuce at me with ranch on it at my face and I had ranch all over me," said Carter.

Carter says she reported the incident to the front office, but was surprised when she found out she was going to be arrested.

"I was released, they gave me a citation and I was still confused like what did I do wrong, because to me, it was self-defense.  I came to the office, I told them what happened," said Carter.

Carter's parents Kimberly and Murphy Smith, say they do not think their daughter should have been arrested.

"It can't be undone.  She will always remember that she was handcuffed," said Kimberly Smith.

Smith has withdrawn Elyssa from the school.

FOX6 News reached out to the school district and the high school. But the superintendent says he will not comment on the matter because it is a student discipline issue.

Smith says the school gave her a report that says her daughter "reached around and past the staff member to push/slap the other student in the face and in the process struck the staff member as well."

Smith says she does not think that's what actually happened.