An elementary school teacher at Oscar J. Pope Elementary School was arrested by Polk County deputies Wednesday morning during a traffic stop.
Around 7:47 a.m., officials conducted a traffic stop in the westbound lanes of US-92 East near Saddle Creek Park Road after a deputy noticed an obstructed license plate on the car.
Kwanazza Lawrence, 36, of Winter Haven, was pulled over by the deputy but couldn’t provide them with her license, as she claimed she didn’t have it on her. Instead, she gave the deputy a false name and birthdate.
It was discovered that Lawrence’s license had been suspended since 2022.
Lawrence is also an Exceptional Student Education paraeducator at the elementary school in Lakeland.
As the deputy went to arrest the woman, she got on the ground and flailed her arms, resisting arrest.
Lawrence was arrested and charged with providing false identification to law enforcement, resisting arrest without violence, and knowingly driving with a suspended license.
“Teachers are role models for children, and they should lead by example, the overwhelming majority of them do all of the time one didn’t,” Sheriff Grady Judd said. “They don’t put up with students lying, or throwing temper tantrums in the classroom. Yet that’s exactly how Ms. Lawrence behaved, and that’s just unacceptable.”