INDIANAPOLIS -- The mother of a middle school student who severed part of his finger during a football workout says the school dropped the ball when it came to helping her son.
According to the IPS incident report, Demetrius White, 14, was with a group of middle school students attending an after-school football training workout at John Marshall High School Wednesday when the accident happened.
Demetrius says he was trying to help a friend who lost control of an exercise bike and put his hand near the wheel to try and stop it.
The wheel severed part of Demetrius’ middle finger and tore the skin off of two others.
“When it happened I started running around,” said Demetrius. “I fell in the hallway, and my fingers started shooting out like that.”
The incident report says Demetrius was not cooperative with school staff after he was injured and would not allow the coach or staff members “to even see or assess” what was wrong with his hand.
But Demetrius’ mother, Chiquanna, says her issue is with the staff at the high school. She claims the school called her but they didn’t call 911.
“A gentleman came out to me and said ma’am, we tried to help him, but he wouldn’t let us,” said Chiquanna. “I said, that’s beside the point, you all supposed to contact 911 before you called me.”
Indianapolis Public Schools released the following statement about the incident:
On the evening of February 28, a student was injured during football conditioning in the John Marshall Community High School weight room. The safety of our students is paramount. This was an unfortunate situation, and this matter is currently under internal investigation.
Chiquanna says she is trying to get her son into a different school and is contacting a lawyer about the accident.
“I want to get the word out to IPS and other parents. It’s more than just our kids going to these skills, they need to treat our children as if they are their own,” said Chiquanna.
Doctors were able to reattach the severed part of Demetrius’ fingertip.
