BAYTOWN, Texas – More than a dozen school students were taken to the hospital Friday morning after someone released pepper spray on a school bus, Goose Creek ISD officials confirm.
The students were being transported to Harlem Elementary School after one of the students discharged the spray, filling the air with fumes.
Emergency crews responded to check on the students. Many complained of being nauseous, and 14 were sent to the hospital for further evaluation.
Goose Creek ISD released the following statement:
"A student discharged pepper spray on Bus 34 transporting students to Harlem Elementary this morning. Several students complained of feeling nauseous. Emergency responders were called to the scene, and out of an abundance of caution, 14 students were transported to an area hospital for further evaluation. Students were released to their parents or returned to school."
Six-year-old student Shiya said she was feeling better Friday afternoon but felt very sick earlier.
"I started coughing," she said. "I threw up on the bus."
She was one of 14 Harlem Elementary School students exposed to pepper spray while on the way to school.
"We got a phone call this morning," Shiya's aunt, Jimmirta Clark said. "They said she had been rushed to the hospital, because another kid had sprayed pepper spray. She was coughing. Her eyes were burning. She was throwing up."
GCISD said several students complained of feeling nauseous after one of them released pepper spray onto the bus.
There is no word on who sprayed the substance or where the child got a hold of it.
"I just hope they get the little boy who did it and talk to his parents, because how did he get a hold of it?" Clark said