/ Local News

05/15/2008

Associated Press

A 16-year-old student at Concordia Education Center has been arrested, accused of poisoning his teacher earlier this month, authorities said.

The teenager, whose name was not released because of his age, faces a charge of simple battery by mingling substances, the sheriff's office said Wednesday. The student was released into the custody of his legal guardians after his arrest and has a juvenile court hearing scheduled in state court later this month.

Investigators said the student is alleged to have put about three-fourths of a bottle of eye drops into the teacher's soft drink on May 5. The teacher was taken to Riverland Medical Center for treatment of "severe intestinal symptoms," said Lee Ford, a school resource officer for the sheriff's office.

The main ingredient of the drops — Tetrahydrozoline — if ingested can be highly toxic and can cause difficulty breathing, blurred vision, blue lips and fingernails, severe rise and then later drop in blood pressure, nausea, vomiting, headache and nervousness. More serious symptoms such as coma, tremors, seizures and depression of the central nervous system can occur depending on the amount ingested and the size of the person who swallowed it, according to the National Poison Control Center.

Concordia Parish Schools Superintendent Loretta Blankenstein said they are investigating the incident as is the sheriff's office. Prior to the May 5 incident, she said threats were made that such an incident would occur. She added that the arrested student has denied spiking the teacher's drink.

Ford, meanwhile, said the teen allegedly was seeking revenge for another student the teacher had suspended when he spiked the drink with eye drops.

The incident is one of two reported in central Louisiana in recent weeks. Three Natchitoches Parish teens were arrested on charges of poisoning two 3-year-olds after the teens allegedly added a mix of chemicals — glass cleaner, liquid detergent and paint — to two milk bottles and then placed the bottles back in a cooler at Lakeview High School.

All three were booked on charges of mingling harmful substances.

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Information from: Alexandria Daily Town Talk, http://www.thetowntalk.com