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Puff from inhaler lands student, 16, in county custody
By DALE LEZON
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

A student at Magnolia High School is in juvenile detention, accused of harming a teacher with prescription drugs from a mouth inhaler, Montgomery County officials said.

The 16-year-old student, who has not been charged, reportedly used his albuterol inhaler and then blew what appeared to be smoke into the face of a teacher Thursday, said Bill Pattillo, chief of the juvenile division of the county attorney's office. Albuterol can be dangerous, Pattillo said.

The boy is being held at the county's juvenile detention center, Pattillo said. He is expected to have a hearing Tuesday to determine if he can be released.

The boy's family told KHOU-TV he used his inhaler in the school cafeteria and is debating whether district officials went too far in punishing him.

"Here's a kid using his medication who ended up in jail for five days. ... something, something's wrong with our system," Steven Wilson, the boy's uncle, told the station.

"It's absurd," his mother, Judy Dugan Todd, told KHOU. "It's ridiculous. It's an inhaler."

Pattillo said the boy may be charged with a felony. He is still investigating the allegations, he added.

"My office believes there is probable cause to hold him for an assault on a public servant, which is a third-degree felony," Pattillo said. The student's attorney could not be reached for comment Friday.

Pattillo said the teacher had a "physiological reaction." Her heart reportedly started racing, and she went to a doctor to get medication to slow her heart rate, he added.

The boy's family told KHOU they met with school officials who said the teacher had an allergic reaction when she inhaled some of the albuterol but that she does not blame the student.

"They all agree it was not malicious. However, she ended up still having that reaction that supposedly threatened her life, and so they charged deadly conduct ... the same charge as a handgun," Wilson said.

Albuterol can cause side effects including palpitations, a fast heart rate, elevated blood pressure, tremors and nausea. Throat irritation and nosebleeds can also occur.

"The reason one person can't give another person prescription drugs is that the drugs could seriously harm them," Pattillo said.

Officials at Magnolia Independent School District would not comment on the incident. In a written statement released Friday, the district said "a high school student has been arrested as a result of the public discharge of contents of a prescription inhaler by the student. The discharge was unrelated to any medical necessity and resulted in health consequences to a high school teacher."

The county's Precinct 5 Constable's Office acknowledged in a written statement that it is investigating the allegations.

An inhaler led to the arrest last year of a 15-year-old student at Caney Creek High School in Conroe Independent School District. The student lent his girlfriend his albuterol asthma inhaler in September. Albuterol, according to the Texas Health and Safety Code, is a dangerous drug. The state's education code states that delivery of a dangerous drug is cause for mandatory expulsion.

Still a little difficult to determine what actually happened, I think. The boy's family says everyone agreed it wasn't malicious, but that's not the sense I get from the school & D.A.'s statements. Understand, they can't say much without violating the minor student's privacy rights.

I also can't tell if the teacher's reaction (heart racing, etc.) was related to the albuterol itself or perhaps stress caused by whatever the encounter with the student entailed.

Isn't the mother's name different in this article?

"Albuterol can cause side effects including palpitations, a fast heart rate, elevated blood pressure, tremors and nausea. Throat irritation and nosebleeds can also occur."

Looking at Bill and Hillary can cause the same effect. Perhaps we should lock them up.