Report: Football player stops stabbing

A New York high school football player has been hailed a hero for stepping in to save a teacher who was allegedly being stabbed in the head with a screwdriver by one of her colleagues.

Poughkeepsie High School senior Justin Richardson witnessed English teacher Ronette Ricketts allegedly attacking department colleague Cynthia Glozier with an 8-inch screwdriver, according to reports.

"I saw Ms. Ricketts just hammering her in the side of head. I saw a lot of blood. It was shocking," Richardson,18, told WPIX-TV.

At that moment, the 6-foot, 220-pound linebacker reacted and knocked Ricketts away from Glozier, who was crying for help.

"I just jammed her really hard to get the screwdriver [to] fly out of her hand. If I didn't step in she would have killed her," Richardson said.

Glozier, 54, is recovering from 16 stab wounds to the head, neck and back. She remains hospitalized, but in good condition, in the wake of the Dec. 15. incident, according to multiple reports.

Ricketts, 40, was charged with felony first-degree attempted assault, second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Prosecutors announced Friday that Ricketts had also been charged with second-degree attempted murder, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal.

She was released from jail last Friday after posting $100,000 bail.

It remains unclear what sparked the horrific assault, with Ricketts declining to talk to police about the incident.

"She didn't say anything, just requested a lawyer," Sgt. Walt Horton of the City of Poughkeepsie Police Department told WPIX.

According to school principal Edgar Glascott, Glazier said Ricketts had asked her to step into a classroom, but when Glazier responded that she needed to grade papers in the library, Ricketts seemingly snapped and starting stabbing her.

Richardson told the Poughkeepsie Journal he was having difficulty coming to grips with the incident, even days later.

"I don't (know) how to feel," he told the Journal. "I'm angry, I guess."

Richardson added he was "very disappointed" in Ricketts, who had been his English teacher in 10th grade.

"The simple fact that our teachers and our administration preach to us, the senior class, about being role models and having a positive attitude. It's really disturbing. They're supposed to be our role models," he said. "But I was the one who had to step in and be a role model."