Loviata Mitchell New Mexico chemistry teacher introduces real life sword duel in class at Volcano Vista High School only for teen girl to suffer serious nerve injuries according to a new lawsuit.
A sword duel with real swords in class ? – What could possibly go wrong…?
A New Mexico high school is facing a lawsuit after a chemistry teacher encouraged students to duel with Samurai style swords only for a 16 year old female student to suffer severed nerves and tendons.
The student, only identified as N.S. in legal papers, was left permanently injured in the ‘mock duel’ 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.
‘I’m in trouble’
Ex-chemistry teacher Loviata Mitchell who had told students ‘she had a surprise,’ allegedly had students set up desks to form a makeshift ring and picked pairs of students to fight each other while a two minute timer counted down. The chemistry teacher is believed to have introduced the swords in a lesson on ‘metal and melding.’
‘D.M. struck N.S. across her right forearm, wrist, and hand with the katana-style sword,’ the lawsuit alleges, according to NBC News. ‘N.S. suffered a large and deep laceration across her right hand and wrist that is inconsistent with a ‘prop’ sword.’
It soon 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
Brief pause… wonder to oneself, ‘Wtf… what kind of class is this that left me all cut up…?’
Footage kept by the injured student initially shows two teen boys settling up desks, a timer on a large projection screen before the un-named teen girl was picked to duel next, according to KRQE.
School cover-up
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, states the lawsuit brought forward by the girl’s legal guardians, her grandparents Arnold and Judy Gachupin.
‘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.’
Of note, the district stated Mitchell being let go from her job in July 2022. It remained unclear what led to her termination.
