Archer Shoots Classmate, Sues School over Expulsion

A student archery practicioner (15) who “accidentally” pointed his loaded bow at a fellow classmate (15), and then shot him in the face with an arrow, piercing his skull to a depth of 10cm and leaving him critically injured, is suing his former school for expelling him over the incident.

The original incident occurred when the student, whilst apparently performing repairs on his bow during lunch break, somehow mistakenly managed to loose an arrow into the face of the other student, who was promptly hospitalised.

The principal had this to add “Normally, we instruct students not to point these things at people, there’s really no excuse for us allowing someone to get injured. I want to ensure this never happens again”.

The shooter was expelled soon after. However, he protested, and took his case to court, suing the school administration in pursuit of his reinstatement.

Now the report of the incident changes: the shooter pointed the bow and arrow at the other student as a prank, and accidentally discharged an arrow into his head. The school then expelled him for “remarkably antisocial behaviour.”

The shooter alleges “It was an accident and so can’t be called antisocial, even my victim doesn’t want me expelled.” The principal refused comment, as legal action is pending.

We do not hear if the shooter has any plans to resume his archery hobby.

Throughout the article “archery” (アーチェリー) is referred to rather than kyuudou, so it’s not quite clear whether traditional Japanese style archery or Western style archery is meant, although it seems to make little difference.

Via Itainews. Let us hope such incidents are not set to become more common.

The handling of the case seems either too harsh (it was an accident) or too soft (it was negligent near manslaughter)?

Though if the report in the court case of him pointing it at the other student is true, that would surely put this towards the manslaughter end of the spectrum.


    Comment by Sora
    2008-09-10 00:52:23

    Wow, 10cm into his skull ?
    I’m surprised he’s still alive. O_O

     
    Comment by holicuser4u
    2008-09-10 04:30:19

    i also share the same though. i mean, an arrow in his skull, that long? i dunno but i always thought that people’s heads were filled with brain….

     
    Comment by Ashton
    2008-09-10 05:51:14

    Accidently making a 10cm hole in the head ? While repairing the bow ? I guess japanese try to achieve great results unconsciously…

     
    Comment by Kageryu
    2008-09-10 07:41:05

    In the anime world, it would have taken a complete two seconds upon impacting the skull for the arrow to have stopped.

    (Yeah, I referenced Byousoku 5cm.

     
    Comment by Artefact
    2008-09-10 08:35:50

    It is a little surprising he survived.

    My interpretation is that as he he was shot in the face, the arrow may have punctured his skull through the cheek or brow, taking off a few cm of brain penetration, or perhaps struck at a glancing angle.

     
    Comment by Toiski
    2008-09-11 15:27:33

    I think the school’s decision, if based on believing it was intentional, was not too lenient. Expulsion is the worst they can do, right? The rest is up to the police.

     
    Comment by TheGeek
    2008-09-11 15:52:35

    You cant accidentally shoot someone in the face with a bow. It takes a lot of force to draw a bow (either Japanese or Western). He broke rule number one Don’t point it at anything you don’t want to shoot.

     


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