Delco mom charged with assaulting two school employees

Before she allegedly assaulted two employees at her son's Delaware County elementary school, Lawanda Myrick walked into a school hallway and said that she was "probably going to jail today," according to police.

She was right.

Myrick, 29, of Philadelphia, was in Delaware County Prison today awaiting a preliminary hearing tomorrow for allegedly pulling out hair of the two employees - one of them the dean of students - punching one in the face and breaking the other's glasses.

Sometime before 9 a.m. Thursday, Myrick showed up at Glenolden Elementary School, where her son is a fifth-grader, and twice asked that he be pulled from class so she could give him a birthday present, court records said.

School officials accommodated her requests, but when Myrick, who police said is a "noncustodial" parent, asked that her son be pulled from class for the third time in an hour, she was denied, police said.

That's when Myrick walked into the hallway and made her alleged statement about going to jail before she returned to the main office and told the dean of students, Rachel Lambert, that it was the school's fault she wasn't able to see her son, according to the affidavit.

The statement was followed by a violent attack on Lambert during which, police said, Myrick threw her against a wall, knocked her down, repeatedly punched her in the head, choked her and pulled some of her hair out.

A female secretary who tried to pull Myrick off of Lambert then found herself the victim of Myrick's ire when, court records allege, Myrick turned on her, struck her in the face, broke her glasses, threw her to the ground and pulled out some of her hair.

Myrick then broke office equipment including computers and printers, Glenolden Sgt. Justyn Kelly said.

A fifth-grader who was waiting in the dean's office watched the incident, according to police.

Myrick allegedly fled the school on foot and was apprehended two blocks away without incident by borough police.

Both of the assaulted women were taken to an area hospital and released later that day. Although their physical injuries weren't severe enough to warrant an overnight hospital stay, Kelly said that the traumatic incident has stayed with both women.

"They're still having issues with it," he said. "You can't blame them."

At the time of her apprehension, an active warrant in the city was out for the arrest of Myrick, of Conestoga Street near Arch in West Philadelphia.

Although Philadelphia police did not immediately know the details of that case, online court records show a bench warrant was issued for Myrick in May on an October 2008 case involving charges of arson, risking a catastrophe and related crimes. The judge requested that a psychological evaluation be performed on Myrick whenever she was found.

In the latest case, Myrick has been charged with nine crimes, including aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person, according to court records. She was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail, police said. *