ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A lawsuit claims a New Mexico teacher brought swords to school to have students fight one another in the classroom. It also claims the fights were caught on camera and now the family of a student who was injured by one of the swords is suing.
Instead of hearing a teacher’s lesson in a Volcano Vista chemistry class, on May 2, 2022, attorneys say you would have heard swords clanking as students take each other on in a makeshift classroom arena at the instruction of their teacher.
“It was total shock,” said Jessica Hernandez, one of the attorneys representing one of the student’s families.
What isn’t shocking is what happened next: a student got a major cut on her wrist and ended up in the emergency room. “Not only did this teacher and APS (Albuquerque Public Schools) not protect this child, but actively put her in harm’s way, actively created this danger, and put deadly weapons right into these student’s hands and exactly what could reasonably be anticipated is what happened,” said Hernandez.
The family of the injured student is now suing Albuquerque Public Schools and the teacher. According to the lawsuit, the teacher told the students she had a “surprise” that day and brought out two swords. The suit said she put on a timer, had them clear away the desks, and instructed them to take turns fighting each other. Attorneys claim some of the fighting activity was captured on a cell phone video taken by the victim right before she was selected to fight.
In the video, you can see students battling with the swords and hear them laughing all while the teacher is looking on and watching the timer. “We don’t know what was going through her mind. We had no idea what would cause a teacher to think this was a good idea,” said Hernandez.
According to an incident report, the assistant principal claimed the teacher had brought the swords to discuss the science of metal and welding but answered ‘no’ when asked if the injury violated school rules. He is also named in the lawsuit.
“The incident report that he filled out really seems like it’s trying to deflect responsibility away from the district to sweep this under the rug rather than doing a thorough investigation to find out exactly why and how one of their students had been so seriously hurt,” said Hernandez.
According to Hernandez and the lawsuit, the cut severed nerves and tendons and required the student to get surgery. She said the student had permanent damage to her wrist.
“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.” she said. “Job prospects are now off the table for her. She’ll never be able to use her dominant hand the way she used to,”
Hernandez hopes this lawsuit brings accountability to the district and teacher involved.
“This is the school district’s most important charge, right? Protect our kids. And that did not happen here,” she said.
Albuquerque Public Schools said the teacher named in the lawsuit was hired as a special education teacher in 2021 and terminated in 2022. APS said it does not comment on pending litigation.