DETROIT – Cleveland Moore, 29, and Alonzo Griffin, 27, both of Detroit, have both been charged with felonious assault and aggravated assault for allegedly attacking 51-year-old substitute teacher Lorenzo Morris at Central High School in Detroit on Friday.
Morris said Friday that he was attacked in the hallway by two men because he accidentally entered the classroom of a fellow teacher, the wife of one of the attackers. Morris said he unintentionally angered that teacher when he entered her classroom on accident.
"Two guys got on me. I'm bleeding and everything, and I'm supposed to be a school teacher," Morris said. "When I got there the kids were in organized chaos."
Morris scolded them for their behavior, not realizing the teacher was there.
"She went and complained to the principal," Morris said. "She was telling them that I was inappropriate."
He denied any wrongdoing, but apologized and thought it was the end of it. Twenty minutes later, while Morris was teaching geometry, two men came to the classroom door. Morris said one of the men told him, "'You will never talk to my wife like this again.'"
Morris left the classroom and shut the door behind him.
"It was a threatening gesture, and he came up and he had this something in his hand," said Morris.
Morris said it was a paint scraper but he thought it was a razor.
"We bounced across the hallway into the doorway across the hall and onto the stairs," Morris said. "I got one guy I'm fighting with and one on my back."
Morris received a cut on his ear, bumps to his head and a twisted knee.
He proudly showed Local 4 News reminders of basketball and football teams he's coached in the city. He's coached or taught in Detroit since 1991.
"You want to keep doing this? This is the love of my life," Morris said.