Teacher Isn’t Laughing Over Visine ‘Prank’

A Michigan high school student who admitted to putting Visine eye drops in a teacher’s coffee over a period of several days, severely sickening her, has been suspended for a year.

Mary Aldecoa, a 24-year veteran with Fowlerville Community Schools, told the Livingston County Daily & Press Argus that the alleged poisoning left her with “horrible symptoms.” Aldecoa, who has been out of school since May 15, thought she had eaten some tainted red meat until school officials called and said they were investigating rumors that a student had poisoned her.

The student, who was not identified, was originally suspended for 10 days pending a hearing before the Fowlerville school board, which voted this week for a full 180-day suspension. Additionally, the Fowlerville Police Department has an open investigation into the matter.

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Aldecoa wants students to know “how incredibly serious” the prank was.

Visine contains tetrahydrozoline, which the National Institutes of Health says can cause a number of severe health problems if ingested, including coma or seizures.

“I could have died, and the kid’s life could have been ruined,” Aldecoa told the newspaper.

School officials aren’t sure of the student’s motive, but said they think the idea may have come from a scene in the 2005 movie “Wedding Crashers.” In that film, one of the characters, seeking revenge, slipped the “get-the-red-out” solution into another’s drink to cause a violent diarrhea attack.

The movie has been the inspiration for a handful of other not-so-funny Visine poisonings around the country, including:

• In a 2012 Pennsylvania case, a woman faced up to life in prison for spiking her boyfriend’s drinking water with the solution because she didn’t think he was paying enough attention to her, ABC News said. The poisoning occurred over a period of three years and her boyfriend reportedly experienced nausea, vomiting, and blood pressure and breathing problems as a result.

• In 2011, a University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh nursing student was sentenced to 90 days in jail for a similar prank, The Huffington Post reported.

• Last year, a California man was arrested after he poisoned his girlfriend with the eyedrops, causing her to be hospitalized, and then bragged about it in a text message to friends, iScience Times reported.

Tell Us:

• Is the suspension enough, or do you think the responsible student should face criminal charges?