A California high school teacher was arrested after a video was taken that appears to show him taking repeated punches at a student during a fistfight that broke out in his classroom.

Marston Riley was taken into custody on suspicion of child abuse and causing great bodily injury on a child after the brawl broke out at Maywood Academy High School in Maywood, Calif., Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Joana Warren, a public information officer with the department, told local Los Angeles news station KTLA.

The footage released shows the pair inching closer toward each other before throwing punches, as other students in the classroom film the incident on their phones. It also shows multiple people trying to pull the student away from Riley.

The student reportedly wasn’t wearing the school’s “proper uniform,” KTLA reported. When asked to leave the class, the student reportedly refused to do so and reportedly used a racial epithet against Riley. A bleeped version of the student’s statements appear in the video. The footage also shows the student throwing what appears to be a basketball at Riley before the punches begin.

Riley, 64, was held on $50,000 bail on Friday night, according to Los Angeles news station KCBS-TV. He has since been released, after posting bail. The student, meanwhile, was taken to a local hospital and has since been released.

One parent told KCBS-TV that she was “shocked” by the incident, asking, “Why did it have to escalate to this point?”

A number of students defended Riley. One person told KTLA that Riley “was a really nice teacher” who “always had a really good relationship with every student.”

Twitter users, too, are already sharing their opinions on who is at fault in the incident.

Well from what it looks like the student provoked it, but who took the 1st punch matters. The teacher should have handle this in a mature professional manner. — Dodgers4Ever (@FanFav14) November 3, 2018

Seriously, this child is speaking out of his ass. We get it the teacher through the first punch but the student deserves consequences too! @ABC7 #JusticeforRiley support and understand the teacher!! He was also jumped about two years ago by 3 students pic.twitter.com/JfNp9X0O6g — jeng (@LaFlackitaaa) November 3, 2018

2 minutes of being berated, and the student took a threatening stance. He came there for a confrontation, but I guess you would rather the teacher run out of the classroom to go grab the principal. His reaction was appropriate, although one punch would suffice. — RL (@RLSVO19) November 3, 2018

The kid is a bitch for getting in the teachers face but to react like that? He doesn’t need to be teaching kids, nobody is going to have your back for that — Daddy (@clitmydia) November 3, 2018

Los Angeles Unified School District’s chief communications officer, Shannon Haber, gave the following statement to Yahoo Lifestyle regarding the incident.

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“We are extremely disturbed by the reports of the events that occurred at Maywood Academy High School. We take this matter very seriously and do not condone violence or intolerance of any kind. Los Angeles Unified is cooperating with law enforcement in investigating this incident. Crisis counselors and additional School Police patrols will be at the school on Monday to support our students and staff.”

According to local news outlets, the sheriff’s special victims unit is investigating the incident.

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