Toledo Public School officials plan to investigate the use of pepper spray on students at a Scott High School boys basketball game Friday night after a fight between two females in the stands interrupted and ended the game early.
The two females were arrested after the fight. One is a student at Scott and the other female attends Waite High School in East Toledo.
Patty Mazur, a spokesman for Toledo Public Schools, said TPS school resource officers and Lucas County sheriff’s deputies were at the game for security. After breaking up the fight, at least two officers used pepper spray on a crowd of students who could be seen in a video of the melee trying to run away from the officers. The video shows an officer deploying pepper spray onto the back of another female's head while she was trying to run away. She then stops briefly to cover her face before walking away.
Ms. Mazur said the officers warned the students to leave the area but they did not. She said the use of the spray would be reviewed. The district does not have a policy regarding the use of chemical agents on its students, she said.
Toledo Police officers arrived at the school after many of the students had already left the building.
Scott had been playing the Rogers boys team, which led when the game was stopped. The game never resumed as fans rushed to the exits, and the teams were led by their coaches into their locker rooms. Many in the crowd began coughing after being overcome by the spray.