Education

‘Prankster’ spikes teacher’s Diet Coke with hand sanitizer, sends her to hospital

Grae Stafford Freelance Photographer
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A 15-year-old boy from Santa Rosa Beach, Florida has been charged with a first degree felony after he “willfully, with the intent to injure,” put “Germ-X” into his teacher’s beverage.

The teacher became physically sick after ingesting the hand sanitizer, which was mixed in to her Diet Coke. She had to be transported to hospital.

Superintendent of Schools for Walton County Carlene Anderson, informed  NWF Daily news  that the teacher had now recovered. According to Anderson officials at the school have informed her that the boy, who is now cooling his heels in the Walton County Jail, was a “prankster.”

“It actually wasn’t an attempt to poison the teacher even though that’s what he was charged with,” Anderson said. “According to the school administration, he likes to joke around.”

The unnamed boy has now been suspended from school and will face an expulsion hearing in addition to felony charges.

Germ-X lists the ingredients of an 8oz bottle of Germ-X Original Hand Sanitizer as Ethyl Alcohol 63%, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Benzophenone-4, Fragrance, Glycerin, Tocopherol, Water.

The consequences of ingesting hand sanitizer can include diarrhea, blindness, memory loss and damage to internal organs. The average bottle of sanitizer contains about the equivalent of five shots of liquor. Alcohol-starved teens use it as a means to get drunk or as a dare for their friends. There are even instructions posted online about how to distill the alcohol from hand sanitizer and mix it with mouth wash to increase its potency.

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Grae Stafford