An argument over parenting methods escalated into a violent altercation between two mothers who used a broken coffee mug to slash each other in a bloody fight that was witnessed by a bus load of students.
Mother Tiffani Cruz defends her actions.
"It was self-defense over an incident that made no sense," she told WFTS.
Police said the fight started because of an argument over parenting, WFTS reported. Cruz said she confronted the woman, who has not been identified, two weeks ago when she yelled at a child at the bus stop. The confrontation went from verbal to physical Tuesday.
"Because she hit me. She got this close to my face, nudged me with her nose, and when she nudged me with her nose -- it was her fist going up, so my fist was going up," Cruz told WFTS. "I put my arm up like this and I went to run, and that's when she picked up the glass, ran at me and stabbed me twice in my arm, once at my wrist and in back of my shoulder."
Cruz was taken to a hospital, while the other woman, who had a serious cut to her throat, was airlifted to one.
Sarasota County Schools is offering counselors to the elementary school-aged children who witnessed the bloody battle. Charges are pending, investigators told WFTS.
"I regret the whole incident, there's no reason it should have happened," Cruz told WFTS. "We're adults."
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