South Brunswick, NJ teens busted for pepper spray high school evacuation

SOUTH BRUNSWICK — Two teenagers have been charged with juvenile delinquency for a pepper spray incident that spurred the Friday evacuation of South Brunswick High School, police announced.

At 12:25 p.m. that afternoon, the South Brunswick Police Department was called about several students reporting eye and throat irritation following exposure to a chemical odor in a science classroom.

School administrators decided to evacuate the building and roughly 3,000 students and staff went outside, amid a wide-scale response from local police and firefighters.

In addition to township police officers, fire departments from Monmouth Junction, Kendall Park, and Kingston responded, followed by the Middlesex County Hazardous Materials Team.

First Aid Squads from South Brunswick, Plainsboro, and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory also responded, as EMTs checked out the students who had complained of irritation.

It was finally determined that the chemical was pepper spray. The building was ventilated and students and staff were allowed to re-enter.

A male teenager had brought a canister of pepper spray to a classroom and was showing it to several other students, police said on Monday.

Another male teen took the canister and sprayed it into two lab sinks, sparking the exposure, evacuation and emergency response.

In all, 23 emergency vehicles and 46 first responders were involved, as the initial investigation lasted for nearly an hour and a half.

Responding officers remained at the scene into late afternoon.

Both students involved in the incident were charged with juvenile delinquency and released to their parents.

Erin Vogt is a reporter and anchor for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach her at erin.vogt@townsquaremedia.com

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