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Missouri boy, 9, has finger amputated after falling in classroom

WEBSTER GROVES, Mo. — A 9-year-old Missouri elementary school student had to have his finger amputated after falling inside his classroom on Monday, his mother said.

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DJ Williams, who attends Bristol Elementary School in suburban St. Louis, said he tripped over his backpack and got his middle finger caught in the door jamb of a metal computer cabinet, which snapped his finger, KTVI-TV reported.

The boy’s mother, Talisa Pierce, said the school, which is located in Webster Groves, called her while she was at work and said her son had a “gash” on his hand, the television station reported.

The boy’s grandfather, Larry Pierce, picked him up from school, KTVI reported.

“The (school) nurse says, ‘OK, he cut his hand. Didn’t say how bad it was, but says take him to urgent care,’” Larry Pierce said. “They unwrap it and immediately said, ‘Oh no. We can’t treat this. His finger is gone.”

Pierce then took the boy to an area hospital’s emergency room, where they were met by Talisa Pierce, the television station reported.

“How do you send a child home with his finger cut off and just pass it on without calling 911 at the school?” Larry Pierce told KTVI.

Williams was taken to a children’s hospital and his finger was amputated, the television station reported.

DJ said after his finger was smashed into the metal cabinet, there was “blood everywhere.”

“I slipped on my backpack, and the computer cart thingy was open, and I used these three fingers to kind of pull myself,” Williams told KTVI. “My middle finger was on the edge of it, and then it cut it,” the 9-year-old said.

Talisa Pierce, who is a pediatric nurse, said she could not believe what had happened to her son.

“I see injuries every day at work, and I can tolerate them,” Talisa Pierce told KTVI. “But to see my child, I couldn’t tolerate it.”

Williams will see an orthopedic surgeon on Friday to learn whether his hand will need to be amputated, the television station reported.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Webster Groves School District said that officials were aware of “reports of an accident.”

District officials said they knew about “a fall ... that may have resulted in injury to a student requiring medical attention. The District is always concerned for and committed to the health and safety of its students and is currently investigating the accident in question.”