A San Francisco State University police officer was briefly hospitalized Thursday when the testing of a substance produced an unexpected chemical reaction, a university spokeswoman said today.
The incident began when officers responded to a report of a squatter at a university-owned apartment. No one was at the apartment when they arrived, but the officers confiscated some items found there, spokeswoman Ellen Griffin said.
One of the items, described as some sort of substance, was being tested at campus police headquarters on North State Drive at about 4:45 p.m. Thursday when a chemical from the testing kit combined with the substance to create the unexpected reaction, Griffin said.
“It was described as a pop with an odor,” she said.
The department evacuated the building and notified the San Francisco Fire Department as part of its normal protocol for a situation possibly involving hazardous materials.
Five officers were in the vicinity of the chemical reaction, and one was taken to a local hospital as a precaution, Griffin said. That officer has since been released from the hospital, she said.
The other four officers did not require medical treatment, she said.
Griffin said the university will have an industrial hygienist investigate the incident and try to determine what the substance was.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
Want more news, sent to your inbox every day? Then how about subscribing to our email newsletter? Here’s why we think you should. Come on, give it a try.
