A seven-year-old girl at Miller Elementary School in Santa Maria almost lost two of her fingertips after an accident on campus.
Her parents are now asking for an apology from a staff member and are considering a lawsuit.
The family claims a staff member is responsible for the injury but the school says it was an accident.
When Santa Maria mom Tanicesha Gonzalez came to pick up her children from the front office at Miller Elementary School last Thursday, she says she never would have guessed what would happen next.
“My oldest daughter slams the door open and she’s yelling and she’s just so upset and distressed. I’ve never seen my daughter look like that. She (starts) yelling, ‘Mom they cut Zalysiana’s fingers off,'” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez says her daughter’s fingers were closed in the front office door, nearly severing two of them.
One of the fingers is expected to be okay, the other is still uncertain.
“The surgeon said that her fingertips were dangling by one blood vessel, which is the one blood vessel we’re counting on to bring the blood supply back to this tip to attempt to save it,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez claims a front office staff member closed the door on her daughter’s hand and should be held accountable.
“Her bad decision cost my daughter two fingertips,” she said.
However, the school district says it was an accident.
District leaders sent us this statement:
“Miller School places a high priority on student safety and assures parents and the community that this isolated incident was an unfortunate accident. Both the district and the school are working with the student’s family to make sure she recovers fully and will assist the family through the process of filing a medical expense claim with the district’s insurance provider.”
Now, seven-year-old Zalysiana is recovering.
“She’s the one that’s waking up at night in pain. She’s the one waking up crying because she’s scared her fingertips are going to fall off,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez says her daughter hasn’t been able to go back to school yet because of her recurring nightmares and fears it could happen again.
KSBY reached out to the Santa Maria-Bonita School District to see how many medical claims they’ve had filed at Miller Elementary in the last year and if they’re taking any steps to prevent this from happening again. They declined to answer our questions.
