Two people were taken to a nearby hospital Friday night after pepper spray was used at a Halloween party at Tau Kappa Epsilon.

“Pepper spray is very noxious,” said District Chief Terry Williams of the Syracuse Fire Department. “One girl had asthma problems, the other I’m not sure of. Two were transported to the hospital.”

Department of Public Safety Chief Tony Callisto said by 11:45 p.m. DPS had received a call about pepper spray being used at TKE.

“Officers and firefighters responded, it was a fairly large gathering of students and the nature of where the pepper spray came from could not be immediately determined,” he said. “The initial responding officers were able to quickly determine it wasn’t the security staff contracted to work at the event.”

The pepper spray was discharged at the front entrance of TKE, Callisto said. At this time, he said it’s unknown who deployed it.

Shanitra Fulgham, sophomore public relations major, was at the party when the pepper spray was used.

“We were all just dancing, it was pretty packed in there,” she said. “Suddenly someone started to cough and then everyone starts coughing and we were breathing in and no one could breathe.”

She said the crowd rushed for the back door but that the large number of people there — she estimated one or two hundred — kept everyone from being able to exit immediately.

“It was hectic, and people were just getting trampled and you just couldn’t breathe so it felt like you were suffocating. It was really scary ‘cause you literally felt you were going to die,” she said.

Fulgham said she didn’t see who sprayed the pepper spray. She said she has heard many different accounts, including that it was a girl attending the party who used pepper spray against someone.

“I’ve heard so many different stories about what happened,” she said, adding that she doesn’t believe the incident to be the fraternity’s fault. “I don’t blame TKE, I don’t think it’s their fault at all,” she said.

Fulgham said she felt the effects of the pepper spray until Saturday morning.

“It was really bad. I stayed good under pressure, and I needed to get my friend out because she was really bad, but once I got outside I kind of just like collapsed on the ground, I was coughing and coughing,” she said. “It closes up your airways and then, even when you’re outside breathing air, you still can’t breathe.”

Fulgham said the incident was scarring and left many people upset, but she doesn’t think the brothers of TKE were at fault.

“It was just traumatic and crazy but I want people to know that it wasn’t the frat’s fault and I don’t think they should be in trouble,” she said.

One of the security guards outside TKE was hit with the pepper spray, said Department of Public Safety Officer Ed Babcock. It has not yet been confirmed if the house will be written up as a result of the incident, Babcock said.

Pepper spray is neither allowed nor encouraged on campus, Callisto said.

The two students who went to Crouse Hospital and Upstate Medical University Hospital have since been released — Callisto said he could not confirm which hospital either of the victims went to.

“We’re conducting a full investigation,” he said. “The patrol officers are filing a report to our detectives.”

Lawrence Sloane, a brother at TKE who was at the party Friday night, said he did not know whether DPS or the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs planned to take any action against the fraternity or against the security personnel.

“We definitely don’t want this happening, and this definitely doesn’t happen often,” Sloane said. “It’s just a really bad chance occurrence. It definitely sheds a negative light on Greek life and definitely shouldn’t have happened.”

Evan Konecky, a graduate assistant at the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, was at the scene and declined to comment. DPS Associate Chief John Sardino also responded to the scene and said more information would be released as the investigation developed.

–Asst. News Editor Maggie Cregan contributed reporting to the article 

Published on October 26, 2013 at 1:42 am

Contact Annie: apalme05@syr.edu