A former Virginia schoolteacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student two years ago has been awarded $10m (£7.6m) in damages by a jury.
Abigail Zwerner was seriously wounded and required multiple surgeries after the incident. She testified during her trial that “I thought I had died”.
Ms Zwerner filed a $40m (£31.5m) lawsuit against the former assistant principal of the school Ebony Parker, saying Ms Parker failed to act when she was warned that the young boy may have brought a gun to school that day.
On Thursday, the panel of three men and four women sided with the former teacher that Ms Parker’s lack of action was an act of gross negligence.
In January of 2023, the child fired a single shot at Ms Zwerner as she was teaching her first-grade class at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia. The bullet went through her hand and into her chest.
“The look on the student’s face is the large memory that I have,” Ms Zwerner testified.
The court heard that Ms Parker had been warned of the gun some 45 minutes before.
The lawsuit had argued that Ms Parker committed “a willful act or omission in the care” of students at the elementary school that was “so gross, wanton, and culpable as to show a reckless disregard for human life”.
It also outlined one instance in which Ms Zwerner allegedly told Ms Parker that the child was in a “violent mood” and had made threats against another child.
Ms Parker allegedly “had no response” and refused to “even look up” when concerns about the child were brought to her.
Ms Parker’s lawyer argued that she could not have known what would happen, and that Ms Zwerner has exaggerated the extent of her injuries.
A criminal case will follow the civil trial. Ms Parker faces eight counts of felony child neglect which is punishable by five years in prison.
The student’s mother was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for child neglect and federal weapons charges.
The student was not charged with wrongdoing and is reportedly in the care of a relative and enrolled at a different school.
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