Pepper Spray Used to Stop Cafeteria Fracas

It only took about two minutes to stop the fight after the pepper spray was unleashed by a school security guard.

About a dozen students started throwing punches in the cafeteria of Sarah T. Reed High School in the New Orleans Recovery School District. All told, about thirty students were involved. The brawl, an outgrowth of gang-related hostilities a day or so before, started during lunch when around 500 students were in the area.

Eddie Compass, director of security for the school district, said a school security guard sprayed several students to interrupt the melee. To the best of his knowledge, no students were actually struck in the eyes by the spray, but about twenty were hit or stung. There were about eight additional students not directly involved in the fracas who were affected by the substance.

Senior Rhondra Hunter said she was punched by a student, then accidentally hit in the face by the spray. EMT personnel arrived in fourteen minutes following the call. First responders from the fire department were already on the scene because of a fire alarm.

Compass said the officer used the pepper spray to stop the fight from spreading. “It’s justified when an officer feels that he is in danger, and others are in danger.”