Sixteen students hospitalized after pepper spray incident in D.C. school

Sixteen students were rushed to the hospital Tuesday afternoon after a pepper spray incident at a D.C. charter school. The incident happened at Cesar Chavez Public Charter School, on Kenyon Street in Northwest. School principal Bob McCarty stated that a student brought a container of pepper spray to school and had it hidden in his desk. As the student was moving around items in the desk, the spray accidentally discharged. Firefighters at the scene said that sixteen students were taken to Children’s Hospital for treatment, but McCarty confirmed that all of the students in the classroom were sent to the hospital for evaluation purely as a precaution. The school is working closely with the student and his family to determine if disciplinary action is necessary.