Food Fight Felony: Senior Prank Gets Out Of Hand, Results In Assault Charges

A food fight felony awaits a Phoenix-area high school student who allegedly assaulted a teacher during a prank that got out of hand.

The food fight happened in May at Horizon High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, Yahoo! News blog The Sideshow reported. Prosecutors say that Conner Floyd-Elsesser, a freshman at the time of the incident, attacked and tackled a teacher during a food fight that turned into a brawl.

Floyd-Elsesser has been charged with aggravated assault on a teacher, azfamily.com reported.

A police report disputes quotes a teacher who says Floyd-Elsesser tackled him to the ground.

But the student has a different account of the food fight felony. Floyd-Elsesser said he was trying to leave the cafeteria when two teachers tackled him. He says he only struck back to defend himself.

“I was in defense mode, I was in fetal position, I was shocked…. I’m on my back getting hit in my left side right in the gut,” he said.

Police gave the student a chance to avoid the food fight felony, azfamily.com noted. He was offered the chance to enter a diversion program in exchange for the charge being dropped but refused to admit fault.

“Connor didn’t do anything wrong,” said Jason Lamm, the student’s attorney. “He didn’t assault that teacher — in fact it’s the opposite. So there was no reason to admit responsibility and therefore he wasn’t going to participate in diversion.”

There is video of the alleged food fight felony, The Sideshow reported, but it is grainy and only shows the student on the ground with teachers hovering over him. It shows no context of what led up to that point, the report said.

The school issued a statement last week, saying that the county attorney acted appropriately when drawing up the food fight felony charges. It noted that the food fight devolved into a “dangerous, physical assault that put the safety of hundreds of students and staff members at risk.”