An officer used pepper-spray on a girl at Woodlawn High School Monday after breaking up a fight in the school’s hallway, police said. The school was evacuated and 20 people were hospitalized, complaining about the pepper-spray’s fumes, Baltimore County police said.
The incident started at 10:30 a.m. when two girls got into a fight in one of the high school’s corridors. As a crowd gathered around the girls, the school’s assigned police officer — called a School Resource Officer — attempted to break up the altercation.
One of the girls resisted the officer’s attempts to stop the fight, prompting the officer to use pepper spray on her and arrest her, said Bill Toohey, a Baltimore County police spokesman.
The county fire department arrived on the scene and ordered the school evacuated. Those complaining of the pepper spray’s fumes were taken to nearby hospitals, Toohey said.
The injuries do not appear to be serious, according to the fire department.
The girl who did not fight with the officer was not arrested, Toohey said.
