GILROY
– For at least 25 years, archery has been a component of Gilroy
High School physical education classes – with no injuries.
GILROY – For at least 25 years, archery has been a component of Gilroy High School physical education classes – with no injuries.
That changed at about 9 a.m. Thursday, when a student goofing off with a bow and arrow overshot his target and hit a pedestrian on the popular Uvas Creek Trail, on a raised levy just over the fence from the school’s athletic fields.
The arrow, approximately 3 feet long, hit Larry Hoppe, 58, of Morgan Hill, in the knee, according to city police, and paramedics subsequently took him to a local hospital for treatment.
It was the last day of archery for the class, but Gilroy School District officials nevertheless suspended archery from the PE curriculum indefinitely.
“With the levy there and with the pedestrians there, I doubt if archery would be done again in the same capacity as now, if at all,” district Safety Officer Roger Cornia said Thursday.
Also suspended was the erroneous archer, a 10th-grade male who has never before been disciplined by GHS.
“He feels terrible,” Cornia said of the sophomore, who may be expelled. Until that decision is made, the student remains on suspension because the action resulted in an injury.
The student was disobeying class rules and deliberately tried to overshoot the target, Cornia said. He did not intend the arrow to go as far as it did or, much less, to hit anyone, Cornia added.
