High School Student Learns About Pepper Spray the Hard Way

Things have changed since I was in school. When I was in school, the worst thing the teachers and faculty had to worry about was a fight between some students full of angst and irrational behavior. These days though, things are worse and many schools have officers on school grounds armed with pepper spray to help keep things under control. Though they rarely have to use it, sometimes it must be deployed.

A student at a school in Maryland found this out recently when his behavior got out of hand. He had gotten in trouble earlier in the week and was suppose to report to in-school suspension. When he entered the school on the Friday that he was suppose to start his punishment, he didn’t head to the detention hall.

Many of the members of the school faculty knew that he had gotten himself in trouble. Several of them confronted him when they noticed that he wasn’t headed to detention. He just ignored them and kept heading toward the cafeteria. Then, the principal, who talked with the student on a very regular basis, confronted the student and told him he needed to go to detention.

The student started swearing and yelling that he wouldn’t go. The campus officer showed up on the scene and advised that the student go to detention. However, the student just shoved the officer and started to walk away. Because the student was so irate and had assaulted the officer, she sprayed the student with pepper spray.

The student was charged with assault on an officer. When he talked with the principal later, he admitted that he was in the wrong and that he had simply lost control. It may sound a bit extreme, but I don’t blame the officer for doing what she did after all of the stories I have heard about irate students these days.