An instance of two children playing turned serious when a comment from a teacher brought a 10-year-old boy to tears.

Last week, Malachi Pearson was playing with his friend in a lunch line at Rosehill Elementary School in Lenexa, Kansas, when a teacher came over to discipline the kids.

“Me and my friend were playing, and then she like pushed us away. We weren’t fighting. We were just playing and laughing,” Pearson told Fox 4 KC.

During the interaction, Pearson said the unidentified teacher said something he'll never forget.

“She told me ‘when you turn 16 and the police shoot you, the only person you can be mad at is yourself,’” he said.

The comment made Pearson emotional because his father was killed when he was 7 months old. Mahogany Foster, Pearson’s mom, believes the school is more concerned about its image than Pearson’s feelings.

“The principal doesn’t offer me any type of comfort. He doesn’t say ‘I’m gonna get someone here to counsel Malachi to let him know that everything she said is a lie.’ I think they’re trying to sweep this under the rug,” Foster said.

Foster says the school district’s superintendent called her two days after the incident and told her the teacher has been suspended. District spokesperson Shawna Samuels did not confirm or deny the suspension.

“Our investigation is complete. It’s a personnel matter, and by federal law we cannot discuss any disciplinary decisions taken against a teacher or employee,” Samuels said.

Foster has pulled her son out of Rosehill and enrolled him in another school, but her trust of the education system has been shattered.

“That teacher needs to apologize to him," Foster said. "It’s just made me scared to send him to any school. Now, I’m really focusing on homeschooling."

Malachi Pearson

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