Broken door post leaves student with serious injury

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The mother of a DeKalb Pre-K student says the school should have called 911 after her 4-year-old daughter was injured by a door post last week.

Yvonne Germany says her daughter Eliza was pushed into a cafeteria door frame at Browns Mill School in Lithonia and for some reason, a metal support post broke free and crashed onto the student's hand causing serious injury.

"Of course I was a nervous wreck. I didn't know how much blood she had lost. She has some deep lacerations to her third and fourth finger. The fingertip bones are crushed and fractured," said Germany.

The mother said the nurse called her to school following the accident. When she arrived and examined her daughter, she asked why no one had called for a paramedic.

"I was very shocked. I said 'you didn't call 911?' They said no. ‘We need you to transport you daughter to the hospital.’ I just had to pray and drive as quickly as I could," said Germany.

A doctor at DeKalb Medical Center stitched the girl's lacerations. The mother said she later was told her daughter may need reconstructive surgery on the cuts and physical therapy. She is still awaiting a formal report from the school on what happened.

"No one is talking about how it fell and why," said Germany.

A DeKalb Schools spokesman told Channel 2's Tom Regan the accident is under investigation and that the school takes very seriously the health and safety of its' students.

In a statement sent to Channel 2 Action News the district said:

"The DeKalb County School District received information that a Pre-K student injured two fingers on her left hand while leaving the school
cafeteria with her class on Wednesday, November 19th.

The teacher and paraprofessional were present when the student injured her fingers.  There was no evidence that the child had been pushed prior to the injury. The student was immediately taken to the school nurse who administered first aid while the teacher contacted the parents.

The mother arrived within 15 minutes of being called and was advised by the nurse to transport the student to the nearest medical facility for medical attention.

Three meetings were scheduled following the incident with the mother to discuss circumstances of the injury with school personnel.  The mother canceled
all three meetings.  The student returned to school on November 22nd.

A copy of the child's incident report was provided to the mother.  The District takes the health and safety of all 100,000 students very seriously."

WSBTV