Easton Bus Pepper Spray Sends 9 Students to Hospital

Talbot County, MD - On October 27, 2026, at approximately 2:40 p.m., the Easton Police Department responded to Easton Elementary School, Easton, MD, for a report that students on a school bus had been exposed to pepper spray.

The bus is part of the Talbot County Public Schools fleet. It had just picked up students from Easton Middle School for afternoon dismissal. The driver was heading to Easton Elementary School to pick up the younger students when the spray went off.

About 20 middle school aged students were on the bus at the time, along with the driver.

When officers got to the school, they found several students coughing. Students also told them they could smell the pepper spray.

While officers were checking on the students, a 12-year-old student came up to them. She told police the pepper spray was hers and that she set it off by accident.

The student said it was a small canister, the kind that hangs on a keychain. She told officers she was reaching into her purse when she hit the trigger without meaning to.

That one spray affected a lot of the students on board. Talbot County EMS came to the school to help check the students and decide who needed care first. Nine students were taken to the hospital for treatment.

None of the elementary school students were exposed. The spray went off while the bus was still on its way to their school.

The 12-year-old will not be referred for criminal charges. Police said the matter is being left to the Talbot County School Board to handle.

Everyone on the bus was a minor except the driver.