Beaufort Co. School District sued after student’s fingertip ‘severed’ by door
A new lawsuit against the Beaufort County School District claims employees at Lady’s Island Middle School mishandled an incident involving a girl whose finger was partially severed by a classroom door in early 2024.
Namely, the suit claims, school employees threw away the “amputated fingertip,” meaning it could not be reattached during surgery later that day.
The complaint was filed Friday in Beaufort County civil court by Shameika Freeman, the mother of the unnamed middle school girl. It asks for $600,000 in damages arising from the district’s alleged negligence in failing to monitor its students and throwing away the amputated fingertip.
It happened the morning of Jan. 25, 2024, after Freeman’s daughter asked to use the bathroom and was given a hall pass to do so, according to court documents. As she returned and opened the classroom door, another student — who had left the classroom without a hall pass — approached her from behind and “forcefully closed the heavy door shut,” the lawsuit claims.
The door severed the tip of the girl’s ring finger on her left hand and caused multiple fractures, according to the complaint. As her finger bled “profusely,” school employees reportedly tossed her fingertip into the garbage can.
What BSCD is accused of in the lawsuit
The lawsuit accuses the BCSD of negligence for failing to enforce its hall pass policies, failing to preserve the girl’s amputated fingertip and failing to maintain a safe environment, among other allegations.
BCSD spokesperson Candace Bruder said school officials cannot comment on pending litigation. She added that the district had not been served with the lawsuit as of Tuesday afternoon.
J. Olin McDougall II, a Beaufort-based personal injury attorney representing Freeman in the case, did not respond to a request for comment.
Spanning sixth through eighth grades with an enrollment of about 500 students, Lady’s Island Middle School serves families on both Lady’s and St. Helena islands. A $61 million plan is in motion to construct a larger school and new athletic facilities on the same site, with a tentative completion date of summer 2028.
Similar accusations, different school
Freeman’s allegations against the school district bear similarities to those of another Beaufort County mother.
On the first day of the 2025-26 academic year, a 7-year-old nonverbal autistic student at Shanklin Elementary School suffered “serious injury” to her left middle finger after a staff member closed a bathroom door on her hand, according to a lawsuit filed in September.
The school nurse contacted the child’s mother, Lenisha Manigo, who told The Island News she believed EMS should have been called due to the severity of the injury. Manigo took her daughter to the hospital, where the girl was placed under anesthesia so doctors could repair the damage to her finger.
Manigo told the newspaper her daughter had been hurt at school before, but this was the worst injury so far.
“Every time she comes home hurt, they say it’s self-inflicted, but my daughter is non-verbal and cannot tell her side of the story,” she said.
Both lawsuits remained pending in Beaufort County civil court as of Tuesday.
