Teen breaks silence after being dragged into pool by teacher

A California high school freshman, who was almost dragged into a pool by her teacher, is now talking about the shocking caught on camera incident.

Cellphone video shows teacher Denny Peterson pulling 14-year-old Sandra Garcia towards the water during gym class.

Though the incident happened back in August, Garcia is just now sharing details.

The teen says she agreed to swim laps, but told Peterson she didn't want to get her hair wet because she had an event that night.

Instead she got out of the pool and sat in the bleachers.

"He starts to bring me down and I had sat on the stairs thinking that, you know, he would stop. But he grabbed me by my ankles and started to pull me down," she recalled.

"I was just telling him like stop, leave me alone. You can't be touching me. He just made me feel so uncomfortable," said Garcia.

Garcia and her mother say they only went public after learning the teacher was allowed to return to an elementary school in the district, following 30 days of paid leave.

Peterson was also charged with corporal injury to a child.