School District to Pay $100K Over 'Drunk Goggles' Injury

A Utah school district agreed to pay $100,000 to the family of a teenage girl who was injured while wearing goggles to simulate drunkenness in a 2014 health class experiment, the AP reports. The Davis School District will put more than $61,000 into a trust account for Kylie Nielsen to settle a personal-injury lawsuit, according to the Standard-Examiner. She can get access to that money when she turns 18. The district also agreed to pay $13,000 for medical expenses and nearly $26,000 for legal fees.

Nielsen was 13 when she participated in an exercise to simulate alcohol impairment at Centennial Junior High School. Her teacher, Rick Smith, encouraged students to play tag and run around a classroom while wearing "drunk goggles," according to court documents. Nielsen's foot got stuck in a desk, and she broke her ankle in multiple places, requiring two surgeries. It also resulted in one of Nielsen's legs being shorter than the other, and pain and swelling when she does any physical activity, her parents said. Nielsen ran track and had qualified for an all-star track meet the day she was injured, according to the lawsuit. Smith, who has since left the school district, "breached a duty owed to [Nielsen] by failing to act with reasonable care," according to the school district's statement in court papers. (More lawsuit stories.)