A Florida middle school student mistook a can of pepper spray for body fragrance, later leading to the hospitalization of 41 students, WJXT reports.
A seventh-grade student at Highlands Middle School in Jacksonville brought the canister for personal use….
When another student reportedly took it and applied it as if it were body fragrance.
The students were in a fifth-period physical education class when the incident occurred.
According to the station, school staff immediately evacuated everyone from the gym to the football field.
Jacksonville Fire-Rescue Chief Keith Powers told the station that several of the students had been brought to the hospital as a precautionary measure.
A week later, the school’s principal, Evan P.
Daniels, announced that the student who took the pepper spray was issued a juvenile civil citation.
The student who originally brought the spray would also face “appropriate disciplinary consequences for bringing a prohibited item,” Daniels added.
As of March 6, an investigation into the incident was ongoing