Detroit school uses unidentified spray to stop fight

Detroit — A city public school used a substance to quell a disturbance involving students Tuesday afternoon.

A group of students at Central Collegiate Academy were fighting outside the school when school police sprayed them with a substance.

The school declined to identity the substance but students said it was pepper spray.

“The police intervened, restored order and school was dismissed as regularly scheduled,” principal David Oclander said in a statement.

The disturbance began around 1:30 p.m. when the school received a bomb threat and someone pulled a fire alarm, reported WDIV-TV.

After the school was evacuated, several groups of students began fighting, the TV station said.

It wasn’t known why the students began fighting.

The substance left several students gasping for breath and at least one was removed from the school grounds on a stretcher.

“The students responsible for the fight were removed from the scene,” said Oclander.

It wasn’t clear whether anyone was arrested in the brawl.

Detroit police, who were present during the brawl, were assisting school police in the disturbance, said a city police spokesman.

Because the city police were only assisting, it didn’t have further information on the incident, said the spokesman.

Detroit Public Schools referred further questions to the Education Achievement Authority, which oversees the school. The EAA couldn’t be reached for comment.