Police: Officer's Pepper Spray Use in School 'Justified'

A school resource officer was justified in using pepper spray to break up a fight at on Tuesday, police said.

Baltimore County police spokeswoman Elise Armacost said pepper spray is a tool that officers can use to break up fights when they deem it necessary.

Tuesday’s incident led to 1,000 students evacuating the Essex school, located on the 1800 block of Turkey Point Road.

“The officer was being assaulted and pepper spray was viewed as his option to stop the fight utilizing the least amount of force possible,” Armacost said.

The defense of the officer’s response comes as a second teen was charged in connection to the fight. The evacuation lasted 45 minutes.

Police spokeswoman Detective Cathy Batton said a 15-year-old boy on Wednesday was the second person charged in connection to the fight. He was charged with second-degree assault, assault on a police officer and disruption of school activities, Batton said.

These charges come after a 17-year-old boy was arrested on similar charges on Tuesday.

Batton reiterated that the school resource officer followed correct training and department protocol for handling the situation. She said he verbally warned each student immediately after the fight broke out and warned the students again after each were restrained.

Pepper spray was only used after several warnings and as one of the students broke free and tried to attack the other student again, Batton said.

“School resource officers are in their respective schools everyday and understand the risks in using pepper spray,” Batton said. “This was a step taken as a last resort and an intervention that required the least amount of force possible given the circumstances.”

Baltimore County Public Schools spokesman Charles Herndon said the school system is conducting its own investigation to determine what disciplinary actions should be taken against the students involved.

“Whenever you have an incident like this, the principal is going to investigate and determine what disciplinary actions should be taken by the school system against the students involved,” Herndon said.

“In general, cases like this where a faculty member and/or a [school resource officer] is assaulted, we consider it a ‘category 3’ offense with the punishment being suspension with the recommendation of expulsion or alternative placement,” he said.