Suit: Student maimed after chemistry teacher arranges in-class sword fight

Feb. 28—An Albuquerque sophomore was seriously and permanently injured in 2022 after a former Volcano Vista High School teacher brought two swords to class and encouraged students to fight with them, a lawsuit alleges.

Identified only as a 16-year-old sophomore at the time, the student injured in the incident still suffers from physical and mental scars, said plaintiff's attorney Jessica Hernandez.

"Parents, when they send their kids to school, they think, 'The school is going to take care of my kid during the day until my child comes back to me,'" she said. "And the last thing you expect as a parent is for the teacher to be the one that puts this deadly weapon directly into a child's hands."

The suit filed in 2nd Judicial District Court on Friday alleges teacher Loviata Mitchell — and Albuquerque Public Schools — violated the sophomore's constitutional rights.

It also alleges negligence by them, as well as by Volcano Vista assistant principal Manuel Alzaga for a report he wrote after the incident. The suit seeks undetermined damages and attorney fees.

APS spokeswoman Monica Armenta said Mitchell was terminated in July 2022, though she still appears to have her teaching license, according to an online state Public Education Department database.

In response to questions about the incident, Armenta said the district does not comment on pending litigation. An attorney representing the district could not immediately be reached for comment.

Roxie De Santiago, an attorney for Mitchell, also said her client could not comment on the suit because it was pending, but wrote in an email that "generally, we believe in the justice system and trust (that) the truth of this situation will be revealed through that process."

Alzaga is still listed as working at the school on its website. He also could not immediately be reached for comment.

'I'm in trouble'

During a morning chemistry class in May 2022, Mitchell announced she had a "surprise" for her students, according to the suit.

She pulled out two swords — one a katana, and the other a rapier-style sword — that the suit said she'd snuck into the West Side Albuquerque school. She told her students they were props, and had them rearrange their desks into a ring to fight in.

Students pulled out their phones and recorded as a pair of their classmates dueled with the swords, the metal clinking as they parried and jabbed at each other in the makeshift sparring ring while a timer on a TV monitor ticked down.

But the next duel turned bloody, according to the suit. After being chosen by Mitchell to fight another student, the suit said, the sophomore's opponent cut her with the katana, opening a deep gash her right hand, wrist and forearm. She started bleeding profusely.

"I'm in trouble," Mitchell said right after the sophomore was cut, according to the suit. She then told the students to delete any video recordings they'd taken and to not tell anyone about what happened.

While the sophomore bled, the suit said Mitchell tried to call the school health office, but could not figure out how. The sophomore "began to feel nauseous and weak from blood loss," prompting another student to run to the health office.

A health assistant came to the classroom and provided the sophomore first aid and called 911. About half an hour elapsed before anyone called first responders.

In a student accident report after the incident, according to the suit, Alzaga said Mitchell had "brought a 'prop' to school to show a lesson on metal and melding," and that a student accidentally cut the other student with the prop sword.

Alzaga further noted the injury did not violate school rules.

When asked if Mitchell violated either school or district policy, Armenta again replied only that the district does not comment on pending litigation.

Citing APS' employee handbook, the suit says the district flatly prohibits anyone from bringing guns, knives or other weapons to school unless authorized to do so.

Since the incident, the now 17-year-old teen who was injured has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and still faces lingering pain in her hand and wrist, which suffered permanent damage, according to the suit.

She also struggles with basic tasks, including writing, preparing food and buttoning buttons.

"This injury has changed her entire life," Hernandez said. "... As a 16-year-old, when you get hurt like this, and all of a sudden you can't do the same things that you used to do — it's really discouraging. It's depressing. It's isolating."