HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – A New York mother faces felony charges after police allege she choked her daughter’s math teacher until the woman was unconscious.

Police contend Annika McKenzie, 34, barged into Alverta B. Gray Schultz Middle School on Long Island last Wednesday and waited outside the classroom for her child’s teacher, Catherine Englehardt, ABC 7 reports.

When the teacher showed up, police allege McKenzie shoved her up against a wall, put her in a headlock, and dropped her to the floor. That’s when other students, including McKenzie’s 14-year-old niece, joined in by kicking and punching Englehardt, according to media reports.

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The teacher was left unconscious after the attack, and both McKenzie and her niece were arrested at the school. McKenzie told police she attacked the teacher because Englehardt “put her hands” on her 12-year-old daughter earlier in the day, according to the Daily Mail.

The 20-year educator was left unconscious, and rushed to the hospital. Englehardt is now recovering at home “in a lot of pain,” Newsday reports.

Englehardt told ABC 7 she has feared for her safety at the school, but it wasn’t parents she was worried about.

“It’s not like I thought a parent would do something, but I knew something violent was going to happen,” she said. “I’ve warned (the school) time and again that the children have no respect for adults.

“Yes, I fear for my safety. They can’t control the kids,” Englehardt said.

Both McKinzie and her niece were charged with second-degree assault, and McKinzie also faces a second charge of second-degree strangulation, according to media reports. The teen is charged as a minor, and will head to family court.

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“Yesterday we saw what we don’t want to see anywhere in any school,” Hempstead Classroom Teachers Association President Elias Mestizo told ABC 7. “Many teachers throughout the district and in this school also do not feel safe in the building, and there are reasons for that. And action needs to be taken immediately.”

McKinzie’s attorney, Donald Rollock, attempted to paint his client as the victim.

“As any loving parent, if someone puts their hands on your child, you’re going to react,” he said.

Hempstead police said McKinzie did not file a police report about the alleged incident between her daughter and the teacher.

Her attorney did not divulge the nature of that alleged incident.

Parents who learned of the attack expressed differing opinions on McKinzie’s alleged conduct.

“Violent, disrespectful parents raising violent, disrespectful kids. Plain and simple,” Mark Parkey posted to ABC 7.

“So, the teacher didn’t ‘put her hands’ on the child? The parent just waited for them just for the hell of it?” Pathfinder101 posted. “If I had kids and a teacher or anyone touches them, I would do much worse. You don’t touch or harm people’s kids. End of story.”