DAVENPORT, Iowa - Davenport police say no criminal charges will be filed at this time in connection with a pepper spray incident at a local middle school, because they don't know who did it.
"Based on the inability to identify the student who released the pepper spray in the cafeteria, no criminal charges can be pursued at this time," according to a news release dated April 15th from the police department.
"It was quite terrifying," said Jake Batterson, a sixth grader who was taken to the emergency room after the April 1 incident. "I got pepper sprayed, I'd like to know why they did it. I understand it was a prank but a lot of people know it went way too far," he said.
Batterson's parents are not happy about having to pay out of pocket expenses for their son's emergency room trip and ambulance ride.
"I would guess it will be five hundred dollars. We are stuck with the out of pocket expenses," said Michelle Nicholson, Jake's mom.
The district's insurance company sent letters to parents, stating while the district is insured $25,000 per student under something called Student Violent Event Response Coverage, parents who have their own coverage will have to pay their own deductibles and co-pays. The district insurance will cover the entire bill for those without any insurance.
"How can they accept liability for one child and not for the rest of the children? I feel like I'm being punished because I have insurance for my child," Nicholson said.
Jake's parents hope the district sees it their way.
"I'm not happy. I think the school should take responsibility for it. It happened while Jake was at school, in their care," said Deren Batterson, the boy's father.
Meanwhile, Jake says he hopes whoever pulled the prank has learned his or her lesson.
"It was terrifying. There was a lot of panic and people were thinking it was sort of an act of terrorism," he said.