Teachers apprehend half-naked man running through schoolyard

● Staff at primary school take action, fearing he might be a danger to others

When a half-naked man jumped the fence of a Gqeberha primary school, inadvertently exposing himself to pupils while trying to flee from a fight, the school’s teachers sprang into action to apprehend him.

Initially, the Westering Primary School staff escorted the scantily clad, seemingly intoxicated man from the school premises, but two teachers who were scared he might endanger others later decided to subdue him.

Music teacher DeanMichael Allison, 27, was on his way to the tuck shop during second break, shortly before 1pm on Wednesday, when two schoolboys approached him.

“They wanted to know if I saw a fight between two men outside the school premises, and one of the men’s pants kept falling down.

“At that moment, I heard children at our foundation phase playground screaming and I quickly ran to see what was going on.

“As I approached I saw the kids running away, clearly very upset,” Allison said. While trying to flee from an altercation in the street, the man jumped the school’s fence and landed in the schoolyard with his pants around his knees.

The man ran into the school building with Allison hot on his heels, and when he came out the other side three other teachers were waiting for him.

While still struggling to keep his oversized, loose-fitting sweatpants in place, the man was escorted from the premises.

“Myself and one of the maths teachers were uneasy about letting this man loose on the streets.

“We could see he was either drunk or high, so we wanted to hold onto him until someone could take him away safely,” Allison said.

As the two teachers approached the man, he started running again, and they managed to corner him in one of the neighbouring yards.

The maths teacher tackled him, while Allison helped to pin him to the ground.

“He had no way of getting away with both of us holding on to him, but he kept fighting and screaming at us that he was sorry. I actually felt bad for him, because he was clearly not well.”

Before long, family of the man, as well as members of the Westering neighbourhood watch, arrived at the scene and the teachers left him in their care.

The neighbourhood watch confirmed that the man was known in the area and had a history of mental illness.

After the incident, Westering Primary School issued a statement to parents explaining what had happened.

“Unfortunately, some of our children witnessed this and were scared as the person was only half clothed.

“If your child does raise a concern, please assure them that the incident is over and that the person was taken away,” the statement by principal Keith McCrindle read.

We could see he was either drunk or high, so we wanted to hold onto him until someone could take him away safely’