A group of middle schoolers in Ohio are now on probation after a November 2018 incident where they smeared bananas on a female teacher’s door and threw the fruit at her, triggering a life-threatening allergic reaction which required hospitalization.
WSYX reported that the three students—a 13-year-old girl and two 12-year-old boys—carried out the assault on an art teacher at Starling K-8 STEM school in Columbus. School security said the students were aware of the teacher’s banana allergy when they staged the attack which sent her into anaphylactic shock within 15 minutes.
During lunch, three seventh-graders smeared banana on the teacher’s door and doorknob and threw them at her while she was inside her classroom, according to a school security officer who spoke with police.
In body camera footage obtained by WSYX, a school security officer was seen escorting police to the classroom—where “Banana Free Zone” posters are spotted on the door. One of the signs instructs students to wash their hands if they’ve come into contact with a banana that day.
“She starts to change colors,” a school security staffer reportedly recalled to police. “They gave her one EpiPen; It wasn’t working. They gave her another EpiPen (but) her throat was starting to close up.”
Officers had reportedly recovered a piece of banana which had struck the teacher’s arm and leg. The teacher was reportedly rushed to the hospital but recovered from the incident.
News of the near-fatal prank and the students’ subsequent sentencing comes as part of WSYX’s ongoing investigation into the state of Columbus City School teachers’ safety, as they’ve been the target of 30 felonious assaults since January of this year.
The news station reported that the teachers’ union hasn’t agreed on a new contract with Columbus City Schools administration, citing concerns with working conditions and insufficient resources available to troubled students.
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[Featured image: Pixabay]
