Boy, 14, accused of poisoning school librarian

The Associated Press

March 9, 2007 - 10:43AM

BAGDAD - A 14-year-old Yavapai County boy has been arrested on felony charges after he allegedly tampered with a school librarian's water bottle, authorities said.

The boy admitted squirting a hand sanitizer called Germ-X into the water bottle at Bagdad High School on Thursday, according to the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office.

The high school librarian had been working with a group of 7th grade students when she took a drink of her water and noticed an immediate burning sensation in her throat and a strong, acrid taste, sheriff's officials said.

The librarian suspected a boy who had caused earlier problems and asked his deskmate, who told her the boy had squirted the fluid into her drink.

Sheriff's deputies questioning the boy said he admitted pulling the prank "because he was bored" and called it "just horseplay", said Susan Quayle, a sheriff's spokeswoman.

The boy was booked into the county juvenile detention facility on felony aggravated assault and poisoning charges, Quayle said. The teacher suffered no lingering affects.

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My comment disappeared! What's going on?

Sean

When I saw poisoning I was expecting more than just Germ-X. Isn't that stuff mostly just alcohol? Pretty lame prank but can see how a 7th grader would think it was funny. Wonder if it could've done any real damage. Comment has been reviewed

March 9, 2007

AMERICAN

Charge him as an adult! To even entertain the thought that is "Just Horseplay" suggests serious problems with this kid. I don't want him on the streets. Suggest removal of this comment

March 9, 2007

bh

Any hand sanitizer out there is made up of alcohol....if consumed it can cause drunk like behavior but its like drinking 120 proof alcohol and will basically "poison" someone...hence the warnings on the bottles. Yeah the kid knew that it wasn't something you normally drink....or he wouldn't have put it in her bottle.....why I'm leaving the teaching profession.............horrible, self centered little brats that have no discipline because we're afraid to harm their self esteem......send him to juvenile hall. Suggest removal of this comment

March 9, 2007

Allroy

Give him roadside cleanup all summer. Suggest removal of this comment

March 9, 2007

Another American

Yes change him as an adult. Lets get all these kids into the jails so our rapists will be free to walk the streets and rape without fear of having someone put germ-x in thier water. Suggest removal of this comment

March 9, 2007

Jack

Better yet, lets just shoot him so we with all be safe. Suggest removal of this comment

March 9, 2007

JL

Send this young man to the other Baghdad, and have him hunt down Osama. "Tea anybody" Comment has been reviewed

March 10, 2007

chill

It sure is nice to see the Bagdad police doing their drop unlike the phoenix police department! A little over a year ago, a female high school student offered me a piece of gum before class. Well, the package of gum wasn't gum, but a shocker that was the size of a double pack of gum and I endured about five seconds of pain and I mean it was painful! As a result of her assault upon me, the school gave her three days suspension from just my class and the phx policeman on campus refused to arrest her, because as I remember being told, they really don't want any of the kids to leave high school with a criminal record if possible... But, if a student is caught doing graffiti, they will be arrested and charged with a felony as well as a host of other things they will have to complete! So, our society has placed a higher value if you assault some non human thing with spray paint than the teachers who educate everyone's children! Its no wonder we get people like the Another American who wrote some stuff that doesn't make any sense about this article.
And for those of you who think this is not a big deal, I woul like for you to just realize that these students who carry out acts like the one mentioned in this article are very likely to turn into tomorrow's adult criminals. So, it is imperative that the perp pay for their crime and get help and for the victim to receive the justice they deserve. No more, no less, because if you don't turn them around now, you or somebody else will be the victim of one of these future adults. And, wouldn't that be unfortunate for you and your family. Suggest removal of this comment

March 10, 2007

Jim

After two years at this library, this doesn't surprise me in the least.

Although we haven't seen quite this action, our staff has been threatened multiple times by patrons; our bookmobile driver has been robbed; we found a knife in one of the ladies bathrooms wastebasket;, a branch manager has had a gun pulled on her; staff cars have been 'keyed'; and of course, general rudeness towards librarians and staff from the patrons abounds, even though we try like crazy to go out of our way to exercise patience and kindness (that's our job, after all!) towards them. Suggest removal of this comment

March 12, 2007

jay

The fact is that the number of incidents relating to the inappropriate use of hand sanitizer products has increased 10-fold in the last year. No surprise given the widespread use (with most people intending to simply protect themselves/their children against germs/bacteria. As of the first week of June, a Canadian company, Soapopular, which manufacturers an ALCOHOL-FREE line of hand sanitizer products, has made its product available in the united states. for more info...www.soapopular.com Suggest removal of this comment