Teacher's door slam causes severe finger injury to 4-year-old... "Kindergarten hides CCTV footage"

Director and Teacher Accused of Child Abuse and Negligent Injury
Kindergarten: "Video Automatically Deleted Due to Storage Capacity Limit"

An accident occurred at a kindergarten located in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, where a 4-year-old child's finger was severed. The accident happened as a teacher was closing a door, and controversy arose over the deletion of the CCTV footage at the time, raising suspicions of a cover-up. The kindergarten denied any intentional wrongdoing, claiming the footage was automatically deleted due to insufficient storage capacity.

According to MBC on the 14th, around 11:30 a.m. on the 12th of last month, 4-year-old Park was injured when his finger got caught and severed in the door gap at a private kindergarten in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.

Some of the remaining CCTV footage that was not deleted showed that when Park ran toward the classroom, the teacher who was in front of the door took other children inside the classroom and immediately closed the door.

The teacher forcefully closed the door using both arms and one leg. During this, Park’s pinky finger got caught in the door gap. Park ran crying to the principal’s office, but the teacher remained inside the classroom.

Full recovery may not be possible... Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder also present

The teacher closing the door at the time of the accident [Photo by MBC News screen capture]

Park underwent surgery for ligament reattachment at a hospital 8 hours after the accident, but was diagnosed with “amputation” as most of his finger was severed.

The doctor stated, “A metal pin has been inserted into the hand. Full recovery may not be possible.”

Since the accident, Park has been suffering from frequent startle responses, nightmares, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Park’s parents expressed their frustration, saying, “We cannot understand why the teacher pushed the door with both hands so forcefully.”

The teacher claimed, “I closed the door because I was worried the children would follow Park outside the classroom,” and added, “I did not see Park when I closed the door.”

CCTV footage deleted for several months including the day of the accident

Controversy deepened as CCTV footage for several months, including the day of the accident, was deleted. Parents repeatedly requested the kindergarten principal to preserve the CCTV footage before Park’s surgery, but after the surgery, they found that all footage from the day of the accident and several months prior had been deleted.

The only CCTV footage the parents could verify was a portion recorded by the principal on a mobile phone.

Park had also suffered a burn injury from a glue gun at the kindergarten in April, but the CCTV footage from that incident was also deleted.

Regarding allegations of a cover-up, the kindergarten principal stated, “I did not delete the CCTV footage myself,” and claimed, “The videos were naturally deleted due to lack of storage capacity.”

The police plan to investigate the kindergarten principal and teacher on charges of child abuse and professional negligence causing injury. They also plan to recover the deleted CCTV footage.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.