CHICAGO — A dozen students at a Lincoln Square elementary school were brought to the hospital after they were pepper sprayed Thursday, according to Fire Department officials.
Paramedics were at Budlong Elementary, 2701 W. Foster Avenue, just after 1 p.m. Thursday after a can of pepper spray went off in the school, said Larry Langford, Fire Department spokesman.
Daniel Mitchell, an eighth-grader at Budlong, said a friend of his was reaching into his bookbag and accidentally set off the pepper spray on his sister's keychain. They spray went off in a classroom, he said.
Cinthia Rodriguez, Mitchell's mom, said the school called her at 1:45 p.m. and told her about the situation. She said the school told her that her son would be taken to Swedish Covenant Hospital down the block, but she said she picked her son up from the hospital without him being treated.
A total of 12 kids were taken to area hospitals, mostly as a precautionary measure with respiratory issues, Langford said. The Fire Department did not have the ages of the kids treated for pepper spray inhalation.
An official with Budlong Elementary said they had no comment on the incident.
