A middle school teacher in South Carolina faces assault and battery charges, after a Holocaust lesson found one student shoved under a desk.

Patricia Mulholland stopped a 12-year-old pupil on his way to sharpen a pencil, instead saying, "Come here Jew," before pushing him under a desk and telling him, “This is what the Nazis do to Jews.”

The class had just finished a Holocaust lecture the day before and Mulholland’s attorney said the teacher was trying to extend the lesson. The student later told his parents about the incident, who decided to press charges.

Mulholland, who has worked as a teacher for 23 years, was arrested and placed on administrative leave late last week. Police have launched an investigation, though they would not say whether or not the boy is actually Jewish.

"What was a demonstrative attempt to teach about World War II and the Holocaust has been taken to mean an anti-Semitic rant and it was nothing like that," said the teacher’s attorney, Robert Ferguson. "This is such a sensitive topic. But what do you determine is instructive teaching? Where is that line?"

Several students reportedly videoed Mulholland acting strangely earlier in the day, with that footage already in the hands of police.