The teddy bear that was found on the Mark Twain Elementary School campus that was stuffed with drug syringes. One student was hospitalized after accidently poking himself with one the needles when he picked up the bear.
A first grade student at Mark Twain Elementary was rushed to the hospital Wednesday afternoon after accidently poking himself with a possibly loaded drug syringe.
Carson City Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to Mark Twain around noon Wednesday after a child handed a teacher a toy bear filled with drug syringes on the playground. The 7-year-old apparently found the teddy bear in a trash can on the Mark Twain campus, and when he was bringing the bear to the teacher, he accidently poked himself with one of the needles.
Sheriff Ken Furlong said the teddy bear contained at least five drug syringes, with one filled with a substance later identified as positive for methamphetamine. Furlong said they are unsure if that was the needle that poked the child, but the student was taken to the hospital by his parents and grandparents where he was tested for a communicable infectious disease.
The Sheriff’s Office and school authorities cleared the playground and found no other drug paraphernalia, however they did find several alcohol bottles on the campus. Furlong said it’s clear people have been using the campus at night.
Furlong said the challenge with this situation is the schoolyard is open to the public, due to an agreement with Carson City Parks and Recreation and the school district so anyone could have climbed the fence to put the bear in the trash can. The trash can where the bear was found is emptied every Friday, so the bear could have appeared anytime between last Friday night and Wednesday morning.
The child is excepted to be fine.
“We deputized the student because he was very upset about the situation,” Furlong said. “We don’t think that he was seriously injured, we just believe that he was crying because of the fear of the situation.”
Furlong said officers don’t believe there’s a threat to surrounding areas or the school, nor does he believe the children are a direct target.
The health department was notified and deputies investigated the incident. Due to difficulties with fingerprinting the various materials, Furlong is unsure if they will be able to identify those who put the bear in the trash can, however they are doing all they can to identify them. Forensics is on scene processing the trash bag and trying to retrieve video footage.
“Something like this jeopardizes the health of students across the whole school district,” Furlong said. “You don’t have to have a child at Mark Twain to feel fearful. However, we have talked with Superintendent Richard Stokes and we are handling the situation.”
No one else was reported injured in the incident.
If you have any information on this incident, contact the Sheriff’s Office at 775-887-2500.