High school freshman Conner Floyd-Elsesser has been charged with aggravated assault after a senior prank got out of hand.

Last May, high school seniors from Horizon High in Scottsdale pulled a prank — a messy food fight that got even messier with a lunchtime brawl.

Floyd-Elsesser who was just charged for assaulting a teacher claims self-defense. The teen said that he was just attempting to leave the cafeteria when the teachers tackled him.

“I was in defense mode, I was in fetal position, I was shocked,” he recounted. “I’m on my back getting hit in my left side right in the gut.”

According to a police report obtained by the media, one teacher claims that the student knocked him to the ground. A cellphone video also shows the teen on the ground while the teachers hover over him.

The case will most likely go to trial as the teen did not plead guilty nor did he accept a diversion program which would have dropped the charge.

“Connor didn’t do anything wrong,” his attorney Jason Lamm said. “He didn’t assault that teacher—in fact it’s the opposite. So there was no reason to admit responsibility and therefore he wasn’t going to participate in diversion.”

The teen is currently a sophomore at a different high school.

The cases of student assault has become recently more common (or at least more publicized). Just yesterday, a gym teacher accused a 6-year-old of beating him up.