SAN DIEGO -- A Scripps Ranch High School teacher is on paid leave, accused of choking a student.

10News has learned math teacher Peter Burrell was put on leave two weeks ago following the incident.

Now, San Diego police are investigating. 10News spoke to the student and his mother, who said the classroom conflict started over a seating arrangement and quickly grew out of hand.

"The teacher picked him up by his backpack and shirt at the same time, walked him outside and then started choking him," said the boy’s mother, Kimberly Magellan.

"I didn't know what to say when he first said to me, your son was choked by one of his teachers. I was completely shocked," said Magellan.

Even more shocking, Magellan recalled, "They did not call the police when this happened."

When she asked about school police, she said she was told: "There was no school police this year because of budget cuts."

Magellan filed a police report with San Diego police on Sept. 16, the same evening she took her son to the pediatrician.

According to the pediatrician's report, Magellan's son suffered from swelling around the trachea.

"He got up and brought me outside and started choking me with both of his hands," said Lamarr Mainor.

A 15-year-old sophomore, Mainor, said he didn't want his face shown on television.

He said his teacher got angry when he asked to sit by friends in class.

"I was just mad that he wouldn't move me, but I wasn't screaming names at him, or calling him anything," said Mainor.

When asked if he cursed, Mainor said, "No. It didn't even get that bad."

Mainor said he was sent to the counselor's office. When he returned to class, the argument escalated.

"He just blew up. He was just looking at me. He didn't say a word, once we got outside. He was just so angry," Mainor recalled.

He said another teacher eventually pulled Burrell off of him.

"It's heartbreaking to know that your child is supposed to be safe at school, but yet this kind of violent crime is going on," Magellan said.

Now, Magellan says she wants justice for the safety of her child and other students.

"He needs to be charged with a crime that he has done. It's not okay to choke a child, no matter what the student does. It's not okay to do that," Magellan said.

10news spoke with Jack Brandais, a spokesman for the San Diego Unified School District.

He acknowledged that there was an incident between a student and teacher at Scripps Ranch High School on Sept . 16 but wouldn't comment on specifics because of a "pending investigation."

He said district policy on punishing students is handled on a case-by-case basis.

The school district's policy on teachers physically punishing students states:

"No person employed by, or engaged in a public school, shall inflict, or cause to be inflicted, corporal punishment upon a pupil. Every resolution, bylaw, rule, ordinance, or other act or authority permitting or authorizing the infliction of corporal punishment upon a pupil attending a public school is void and unenforceable."

It's up to the district attorney's office whether or not to prosecute.

Burrell could face battery charges, according to the district attorney's office.

10News e-mailed Burrell for his side of the story and is still awaiting a response.