Chesapeake High Evacuated Following Pepper Spray Incident

(UPDATED 2:47 p.m.) Sixteen people were transported to local hospitals after pepper spray was dispersed Tuesday following a fight inside Chesapeake High School.

Baltimore County Public Schools spokesman Charles Herndon said the incident began around 11:30 a.m. when a fight broke out between two students in the front commons area of the school, located on the 1800 block of Turkey Point Road.

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A school resource officer attempted to break up the fight, but a struggle ensued and the officer had to use his pepper spray, Herndon said.

Baltimore County police spokeswoman Elise Armacost said one student was arrested and transported to the Essex Precinct. In addition, police said patients were transported to various local hospitals, including Franklin Square, Johns Hopkins Bayview and Johns Hopkins Hospital, for non-life-threatening injuries.

It is unclear how many of those injured in the incident were students.

Herndon added that the school was evacuated for 45 minutes while fire crews ventilated the building.

Students at the school said the scene was chaotic as they were asked to leave the building.

“I was collecting money for homeless families in need when the fight broke out,” said Chelsea Clark a Chesapeake student. “I grabbed the jug of change and tried to get out of there.

"That was when the officer sprayed the pepper spray. I breathed in the spray and have been coughing ever since.”

Chesapeake senior Chris O'Shea added: "I saw administrators darting down the hallway and so [I] followed and found the fight in the commons."

Another Chesapeake senior, Karah Hauser, said students were startled by the incident.

"I was in class, so I didn't see the event happen, but we were evacuated by the fire alarms," she said.

Rachel Martinez contributed to this story.

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