A 16-year-old New Mexico high school student suffered severed nerves and tendons when she was encouraged by a teacher to take part in a sword showdown with another pupil, according to a new lawsuit.
The student, only identified as N.S. in legal papers, was left permanently injured by the face-off that took place in May 2022 when a Volcano Vista High School teacher provided both teenagers katana and rapier-style swords for the bizarre duel, the complaint reported by NBC News states.
Ex-chemistry teacher Loviata Mitchell allegedly had students set up desks to form a makeshift ring and picked pairs of students to fight each other for a couple of minutes.
“D.M. struck N.S. across her right forearm, wrist, and hand with the katana-style sword,” the lawsuit alleges, per NBC News. “N.S. suffered a large and deep laceration across her right hand and wrist that is inconsistent with a ‘prop’ sword.”
It quickly became apparent the teen girl was in agony, leading the teacher to allegedly shout “I’m in trouble” as she demanded other students dump any videos they shot of the duels, the lawsuit states.
But footage kept by the injured student of another shows two teen boys jostling in a classroom with desks around them and a timer on a large projection screen before she was picked to duel next, according to KRQE.
The student’s grandfather was called 20 minutes after the injury, and 911 wasn’t called until 30 minutes after the incident, according to the lawsuit filed last week in 2nd Judicial District Court.
The girl underwent surgeries, physical therapy and sought mental health help with uneventful tasks now a challenge, the lawsuit reads.
“Her wrist and hand are permanently injured. Those injuries cause her ongoing daily pain, as well as cause her to be unable to perform many basic daily tasks,” her lawyer wrote, according to NBC News.
An assistant principal, Manuel Alzaga, was also named as a defendant in the suit after she allegedly wrote in a school report that the student suffered the injuries during a “lesson on metal and melding.”
“In response to the report’s question, ‘Did the injury violate school rules?’ Mr. Alzaga checked a box indicating ‘No,'” the legal action claims.
“It’s been devastating. I mean as you can imagine, this is a high school girl that this happens to. Not only is her life completely different, not only does she have the pain of a very serious injury that had a surgery with a very long recovery, but she also now has a very dramatic scar right on her wrist,” the plaintiff’s lawyer Jessica Hernandez told KRQE.
“Job prospects are now off the table for her. She’ll never be able to use her dominant hand the way she used to.”
The school district declined to comment when contacted by outlets on the suit that was brought by the girl’s legal guardians, her grandparents Arnold and Judy Gachupin.
The district did note Mitchell, the teacher, was let go from her job in July 2022, NBC News reported. It’s unclear what led to her termination.
Attempts to reach Mitchell were unsuccessful Wednesday night.