Daughter Hit In The Face By Figure Skater’s Blade

Location of residence: New Jersey

Location of incidence: New York City

Last weekend there was an open skate near me so I decided it would be a fun idea to go ice skating with my daughter. While I was at the rink, we were skating around. I played hockey as a teen so I’m pretty well balanced and in control of where I’m going, and I’m trying to teach my daughter how to ice skate.

She’s 5 years old and was skating with one of those little animal things you push to keep balance. And there was an experienced figure skater practicing some basic spins near the inner circle of the rink. All of the sudden she lifts her leg up and does some spin with her leg out even though the rink is super tiny, and her skate whacks my daughter in the forehead. I was keeping an eye on my daughter to make sure she wasn’t bumping into other people, so I watched it happen. She did not walk into the skater after she started spinning, the skater started to spin as multiple people were already near her.

We had to go to the emergency room and get 12 stitches in her forehead for a 4.5 inch long laceration and get her checked for a concussion. Our bill came out to about $2,500 dollars out of pocket. Is there anything I can do?

edit: Yes, I do have the name of the woman, she did not agree to provide additional info when I asked.

Edit 2: this took place in NYC where it is super busy and there ISN’T enough room for people to do spins safely in the center, which is why figure skating moves that lift a skate off the ground are specifically prohibited by this rink.