Pottsgrove High School, Kauffman Road, as seen from the north.
POTTSTOWN PA – Thursday’s (April 22, 2010) last lunch period at the Pottsgrove High School cafeteria was a shortened one when, according to Pottsgrove School District Superintendent Dr. Bradley Landis, a resource officer’s container of pepper spray “inadvertently discharged” and a portion of the building had to be temporarily evacuated.
The incident occurred at about noon, as students and staff members were dining. Several who “complained of some discomfort from the discharge” were tended to by school medical personnel, Landis said in an e-mail distributed to the media. Parents of affected students were notified of the problem, he added.
Goodwill Ambulance vehicles and Lower Pottsgrove police responded, and the school, 1345 Kauffman Rd., Pottstown PA, “went into lockdown while the fire department and police tended to the situation,” Landis wrote.
Montgomery County emergency records show that Ringing Hill Fire Department was sent to the scene at 12:14 p.m. for what was categorized as a “gas odor or leak,” followed by the department’s fire police at 12:26 p.m. for traffic control on streets surrounding the school.
Normal school operations resumed at 1:20 p.m., Landis reported. The officer involved was not identified.
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