Landscapers, watch where you’re mowing. A maintenance worker at a North Akron, Ohio school learned this lesson the hard way when he ran over a softball-sized rock. The stone was sent flying, richocheted off a wall, crashed through a classroom window, flew over the heads of numerous students, and struck a fourth-grade girl in the head while she was standing at the teacher’s desk. She was fortunate. Although the rock caused her to bleed heavily, she wasn’t knocked down and she never lost consciousness. Still, she did suffer a dent in her skull and is expected to undergo surgery to repair it.
School officials said the worker didn’t do anything that was against procedure. The mower had a guard in place to deflect debris to the side, but the blade struck the rock at just the right angle to send it flying — some 85 feet — toward the school. No others were injured in the incident.