'Locker' game led to middle school student's injury, police say

A game in which students slam each other's locker doors shut likely resulted in the loss of a child's thumb, police and school officials said Wednesday.

At about 2:30 p.m. Monday, the injured boy and his friend -- both sixth-graders at Bluffton's H.E. McCracken Middle School -- were at their lockers, which are stacked atop one another.

The injured boy has the bottom locker and his friend has the top locker, said Lt. Bryan Norberg of the Bluffton Police Department. The boy's thumb was severed when his friend kicked the door of the bottom locker closed. Police had earlier reported the injury was to the right index finger, but later learned it was the thumb.

Assistant Principal Joseph Warfield said the boys might have been playing what students call "the locker game," in which they attempt to slam shut open lockers, forcing the targeted kids to have to re-enter their combination to reopen the locker. Norberg said the lockers where the incident occurred have built-in dials that lock automatically when the door is shut.

The boy and his thumb, which was severed at the middle of the appendage, were taken to Savannah's Memorial Health University Medical Center, where surgeons attempted to re-attach the digit Monday night. Police and school officials would not say whether that surgery was successful because of medical privacy laws. The students are not being identified because they are juveniles.

"It was basically two kids playing around," Warfield said Wednesday. It was "the result of inappropriate and unsafe behavior. ... It's an example of why we don't have any tolerance for fooling around. We are constantly reprimanding them for that. (Students') automatic response is, 'We were only playing,' whether they were pushing, shoving, whatever the game of the day is."

H.E. McCracken administrators sent a letter home to parents Tuesday explaining that teachers supervise students as they leave the school, and that dismissal times are staggered to alleviate crowding in the halls. Administrators will continue to enforce that policy, according to the letter.

Warfield said the school has been in contact with the victim's parents each day since the incident to check on his condition.

"He's at home, recovering." he said. "He's doing fine."

No criminal charges will be filed. Police finished the investigation Wednesday, ruling it "an unfortunate accident," Lt. Norberg said. "All parties agreed that it was not intentional."