A woman charged with stealing a school bus in 2019 allegedly returned to the same school to attack a school superintendent and two other employees on Tuesday.
A Harlan County sheriff’s deputy responded Tuesday to Cawood Elementary School after a report of a woman assaulting a school staff member. The woman, identified as 37-year-old Teresa Wells of Cawood, allegedly assaulted Harlan County Superintendent Brent Roark. Roark did not immediately respond Thursday.
She also allegedly assaulted two other staff members, including Brett Johnson, director of pupil personnel. She pinned another staff member against a wall, according to an arrest citation.
Wells was trying to flee from the school when the deputy arrived on the scene, according to court records.
Wells was “screaming and cursing” and being disorderly, the deputy wrote in the arrest citation.
“She was talking out of her mind and constantly screaming,” the deputy wrote.
Teresa Wells was arrested and taken to the Harlan County Detention Center. She was charged with three counts of 3rd-degree assault, public intoxication (excluding alcohol) and disorderly conduct, according to court records.
She was held on a $2,000 cash bond. Wells was scheduled to be arraigned on her charges Thursday morning.
In September 2019, Wells allegedly took a school bus from the Cawood Elementary School parking lot and drove it in the area for a short time, according to court records. A Harlan County School District employee got Wells to stop the bus before state police arrived, according to trooper Shane Jacobs.
Wells initially refused to exit the bus, and when she did exit, she appeared to be under the influence, state police said.
She was stopped on Ky. 1137. She didn’t have a driver’s license, according to court records.
At the time, Wells appeared to be under the influence because she had “slurred speech and glossy eyes,” Trooper Michael Soltess from Kentucky State Police wrote in an arrest citation.
Wells pleaded not guilty to the charges after being indicted but a change of plea hearing is scheduled for September, according to court records.
Wells was also arrested earlier in 2019 when she allegedly stabbed someone with a pencil inside a Harlan County home, according to court records. She pleaded guilty to public intoxication (excluding alcohol) in that case.
