The student says he was injured on school grounds, but had to use his own cell phone to get any medical help at all because a teacher didn't believe he was hurt.
Dakota Hall, 12, isn't starting out Christmas break like his friends. Hall was playing games outside Santa Fe Junior High after lunch Thursday when another boy tackled him and he went down.
"I heard this really loud pop, and I was lying on the ground for five or 10 minutes," Dakota recalled.
He didn't know it yet, but his right leg was broken in two places. Dakota says he yelled out for his substitute teacher to help him, but his cries went unanswered. So he says, he took matters into his own hands, dialing 911 from his own cell phone.
"The operator answered and I said, 'Yes, my name is Dakota Hall, I'm 12 years old and I'm at Santa Fe Junior High School and I think I broke my leg,'" Dakota told Eyewitness News.
Dakota says the teacher took away his cell phone, but EMS was already on its way, and showed up at the playground, along with the school nurse.
A spokesperson for Santa Fe ISD acknowledged, "An accident did occur at Santa Fe Junior High during recess whereby a student was injured. The school nurse promptly contacted EMS. As a result of the investigation, the substitute is no longer an employee of the district."
Dakota's father Daryle Hall said simply, "She has no business working with children."
Hall's parents, including his mother, who's a pediatric nurse, say they're proud of their son for calling for help on his own. They just hope no other child has to do the same.
"These aren't toddlers that fall and make up stuff," Daphne Hall said. "These are older kids. If they're crying, you should probably check them."
Dakota had another with the orthopedic surgeon. His father told me Dakota has a broken tibia and fibula. He will wear a cast from his hip down, until he heals.
