Bags Of Cocaine Brought To Class By Second-Grader
PHILADELPHIA -- Police have confirmed that a white substance found in 18 bags brought to a southwest Philadelphia school by a 7-year-old girl is cocaine.
Patterson Elementary School officials said that plastic bags of cocaine were found inside a second-grade classroom and that some of the students ate the drugs.
Parents want to know if school officials are handling the situation properly.
At least one child ingested some of the drugs and another child was taken to a hospital late Tuesday afternoon to be checked out.
"I was upset because they didn't call me and tell me what was going on," said Shinette Brown, a parent of one of the students affected.
"My daughter is scared to come to school," said Catalina Starling, a mother of one of the students in the classroom.
Both parents said that the drugs were passed around the classroom.
"I ate it. I asked, 'What is it?' I spit it out and I was like, 'What is it?'" said Shaniya Brown, 7.
"I took her to the hospital because she said when they were in there, when she took it, she started shaking and she couldn't stop shaking," a student's mother said.
Starling's daughter, Tracey, said that she passed up the bag given to her by a classmate.
"She said that she got it from the girl ... and then she stuck one in my book bag," Tracey Starling said.
Parents told NBC 10 News that officials at the school had some of the second-graders write out incident statements about what happened without their parents present .
"They know me at the school, that's why I don't understand why they even took a statement without my knowledge," Catalina Starling said.
Late Tuesday, school officials sent letters home to parents telling them that pink bags with a powder-like statement from a student and that police were notified. However, Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said that his department was not notified until 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
School officials have not made an official statement, but told NBC 10 News that they are working on a timeline on how events transpired.
Parents told NBC 10 News that they want to know why an ambulance was not called to the school when the children ate the powder.
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