Elementary school teacher apologizes after she's filmed 'threatening to kill a mother and her 8-year-old daughter' who were peacefully protesting in Black Lives Matter march near her home

A California elementary school teacher has issued an apology after a viral video showed her threatening to kill a mother and her young daughter as they were leaving a Back Lives Matter protest.

Carrie Maxwell, a second-grade teacher at Wayside Elementary School, was filmed screaming profanities into the face of Erika Baze and her eight-year-old girl, Kimberly, after a protest in Bakersfield last Friday.

Baze, who is white, said Maxwell ‘jumped out of nowhere’ and began shouting at them, telling them they weren’t welcome in the area and that she was going to call police.

The startled mother began recording Maxwell when she started to become violent.

‘I will f***ing kill you,’ Maxwell can be heard saying in the footage. The teacher had to be physically dragged away from Baze by her shirtless husband.

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Carrie Maxwell, a second-grade teacher at Wayside Elementary School, was filmed screaming profanities in the face of a mother and her eight-year-old daughter last week

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Erika Baze, who is white, said Maxwell ‘jumped out of nowhere’ and began shouting at them, telling them they weren’t welcome in the area and that she was going to call police.

Appalling moment elementary school teacher makes eight-year-old cry

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Kimberley can be heard crying throughout the ordeal in fear, telling her mother on a number of occasions that she’s scared.

‘Do you see what you did to a child? Good job,’ Baze yells out to Maxwell as she’s being pulled away. ‘You just traumatized a child for walking. Look at this! Are you proud?’

The footage of their encounter, posted by Baze onto Twitter, has since been viewed more than three million times.

Users later identified Maxwell as the woman depicted and began emailing the principal of Wayside Elementary. Police also announced they were investigating the incident.

Bakersfield City School District Superintendent Doc Ervin has since said the district is investigating the incident involving the teacher.

'We do not condone nor endorse the action and behavior captured on the video,' he said.

In response, on Monday, Maxwell issued a statement through her attorney, Kyle J. Humphrey, apologizing for her actions and calling them a by-product of ‘anxiety, frustration and panic’, caused in-part by over caring for an elderly mother vulnerable to health complications and an autistic son.

‘I had seen news coverage of the protest turning into riots across the country and was aware that the protests near my home had turned to confrontations the day before,’ Maxwell said.

‘When I heard protesters gathering near my home, loudly chanting profanities, I became overwhelmed with anxiety and fear.’

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The footage of their encounter, posted by Baze onto Twitter, has since been viewed more than three million times

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Users later identified Maxwell as the woman depicted and began emailing the principal of Wayside Elementary. Police then announced they were investigating the incident

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Bakersfield City School District Superintendent Doc Ervin has since said the district is investigating the incident involving the teacher (Wayside Elementary shown above)

Maxwell said she called police but was allegedly told there was nothing they could do about the gathering crowd, so she claims she went outside to ask the protestors to move away.

‘There was a woman who became confrontational and I responded in an inappropriate manner,’ Maxwell said in her statement. ‘I never spoke to or threatened this woman’s daughter. I have never been in a physical altercation in my life.’

Maxwell added that she is ‘humiliated by her actions’, and also apologized to anyone hurt by her behavior in the video and for distracting from the point of the protest.

The teacher said she too, like much of the world, was horrified by the video of George Floyd’s death, which showed him pinned to the ground by his neck, under the knee of Derek Chauvin, desperately gasping for air before losing consciousness.

‘Every man, woman and child deserves to be treated with dignity, compassion and equality, regardless of the color of their skin, and every person deserves to live a life free of fear,’ Maxwell said.

‘I am heartbroken to think that any of my students or their parents might see that video and believe that it is in any way reflective of my values or views regarding race or inclusivity.’

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Maxwell added that she is ‘humiliated by her actions’, and also apologized to anyone hurt by her behavior in the video and for distracting from the point of the protest. But reacting to the statement, Baze said she rejects Maxwell’s apology saying she ‘didn’t see it as legitimate’

Humphrey, meanwhile, claimed the video is not reflective of who Maxwell is as a person. He said she’s been a ‘dedicated’ teacher for a dozen years.

‘She clearly made a bad choice,’ Humphrey said. ‘But there was no fear or perceived threat as a result of what she said.’

But reacting to the statement, Baze said she rejects Maxwell’s apology saying she ‘didn’t see it as legitimate’.

In a counter-statement, Baze told KGET the apology was for those who were ‘outraged by the video,’ and Maxwell was only sorry because she was caught by the public.

‘This is a press release from a lawyer that Ms. Maxwell has secured, full of excuses for Ms. Maxwell’s behaviour,’ she said.

Baze asks Maxwell to release the video she recorded because Baze ‘knows the truth on how it began.’

In the statement, Baze said she does not see any other way Maxwell’s threats could be interpreted. Whether her threats were directed toward Baze or her 8-year-old daughter, she said ‘any child who sees their parents threatened will feel threatened as well.’