Colleagues defend teacher arrested for punching student who was racist towards him

After punching a 14-year-old student last week a teacher was arrested - and now his colleagues are rallying to his defence because the teen called him the N-word before attacking him, according to reports.

Police held the 64-year-old Maywood Academy High School teacher Marston Riley overnight on Friday on suspicion of child abuse. He was released on Saturday after posting bail.

As of Monday, a GoFundMe page created by a woman working in the same Los Angeles district as Riley reached over half the $50,000 goal.

Students in the room when the fight broke out filmed the incident, showing Riley arguing with a student at the front of the class before throwing a punch at him.

The student fights back in retaliation, but as the video shows Riley continues to attack the boy repeatedly.

Fellow classmates told KTLA the fight initially started when Riley asked the student to leave the classroom because he wasn't wearing the proper uniform.

The boy, who has not been publicly identified, refused and - according to the video footage - began hurling racial slurs and abuse at the black teacher.

One student told CBS Los Angeles:

It was just back and forth, back and forth, and then the teacher just decided to throw a punch and that’s when everything happened.

Some people defended Riley on social media, placing blame on the student for being racist against him.

“We all may have mixed feelings about what happened,' reads the GoFundMe page. 'But please do know that this is not the first time that Mr. Riley is attacked; physically or verbally. He is a great person and a great teacher'.

Other people however were left rather disturbed and horrified at the situation, speaking to NBC, one mum said:

Just the fact that he’s hitting a child - it’s not right

More: High school students face disciplinary action for racist and homophobic prank