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Pembroke Pines Teacher Speaks About School Stabbing

A Pembroke Pines teacher is speaking out Sunday after being stabbed as she tried to break up an attack on a student that police say all started over social media.

With eight stitches in her lower back, Dorthea Oatts is recovering both physically and mentally.

"She had so much fury on her face," Oatts said. "It was like deadly."

What started as a typical Friday morning at Pines Middle School, quickly turned violent.

"It was in the hallway. A common area," she said.

A teacher overheard bickering and went to get security. things were escalating between two eighth graders, possibly over a disagreement on social media. one student was armed with a pair of scissors.

"I saw an object in her hand," Oatts said. "I wasn't sure what it was until I got closer to her."

That's when Oatts made the split second decision to jump in.

"I saw her coming down at the other student and that's when I tried to block it. I stood in between to block it because she was aiming directly at her chest," she said.

The student responsible arrested and taken to a juvenile assessment center. She's likely facing several charges and expulsion.

"I did not know that I was stabbed until another teacher was like Oatts you're bleeding," she said.

But Oatts says she's just doing her job.

"I treat my student just like their my kids," she said.

Oatts did not know the teen holding the scissors, but did know the intended victim. She's a student in her fifth period class. Oatts says she misses her students and they are preparing to test, so she is eager to get back in the classroom.

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