Florida woman loses finger to library book drop box

May 28, 2024

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Warning: Details in this story may be disturbing and/or graphic to some. As she sits in her Mount Dora home with a splint on the middle finger of her left hand, Bobbie Haverly wonders how the tip of that finger got chopped off by a library book drop box.

“I was panicking and shocked,” she said.

It happened at the W.T. Bland Library in Mount Dora. Haverly says she had books to check out and one to drop off. There was a line at the front desk, so to save time, Haverly decided to use the drop box inside the library to return her book.

Haverly says as she put the book into the book drop box, the metal door just snapped back. We must warn you, what Haverly says happened next is graphic.

"The end of my finger got pinched, like you do in a closet door, and when I reflexively pulled it away, I was shocked at the blood. And I didn't know where my fingertip was, and it was stuck in the metal box,” Haverly said.

Haverly is a registered nurse who was able to work through her shock and worked to save her finger.

"I immediately said to the staff, please get me some ice water so I can put my hand in there. And please put the fingertip in ice-cold water so I can possibly salvage it,” Haverly said.

Sadly, they could not. The whole case is freaky – something library patrons said they never saw coming.

“If I ever use it, I'm going to be extremely careful,” 8-year-old Waylon Wilcox said.

Since the accident, there is a new caution sign above the drop box that says, "Please do not place your hand inside the book drop."

Haverly has filed a lawsuit against the city of Mount Dora. The main reason? To put it out there and hopefully get libraries to think twice about what is really necessary to protect a box of books.

We reached out to Mount Dora to get the city's side of the story. A representative says they are not able to comment because of the lawsuit.

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