Elementary students exposed to pepper spray released during SF Sheriff’s training exercise
SAN BRUNO, Calif. (KRON) — Children at a San Bruno elementary school were exposed to pepper spray on Tuesday after a San Francisco Sheriff’s Office training exercise went wrong, a spokesperson with the sheriff’s office confirmed to KRON4. Twenty students and one teacher reported symptoms such as burning sensations on their faces and scratchy throats, the San Bruno Fire Department said.
The training class for crowd management, intervention, and control was conducted inside a building on SFSO’s jail property in San Bruno. It involved testing chemical agents against CS gas (2-chlorobenzylidene malonitrile) and OC gas (commonly known as pepper spray).
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Gas drifted over to Portola Elementary School, located at 300 Amador Ave., causing teachers and students to feel symptoms.
“This is an unprecedented situation that we take very seriously,” said Tara Moriarty, SFSO’s Director of Communications
Moriarty said SFSO and other law enforcement agencies have conducted training at this site for more than 20 years, and this has never happened before. Both gases are commonly used by law enforcement, per Moriarty.
Members of SFSO visited the school to explain what happened and apologize. SFSO will now pause its chemical agent training exercises for safety purposes, Moriarty said.
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