A student found a hypodermic needle in the Sobe Life Water machine on the first floor of the Keathley University Center today, making this the second offense in a week.
MTSU Police Chief Buddy Peaster said the police station received a call between 3 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. indicating a second hypodermic needle had been found, this time in the KUC.
“Officer Wofford responded to the scene and confiscated the needle and syringe and also took prints of the vending machine,” Peaster said. “Right now we are looking into the evidence that we have.”
Kayla Hale, sophomore education and behavioral science major who works at Phillips Bookstore, said she was alerted about the needle after a student approached her and said, “I think something is in the vending machine.”
Hale said the needle, on first glance, looked like a pin so she immediately called the MTSU Police Department.
“I called the police station and they came, pulled it out and it was a hypodermic needle,” Hale said. “The drink was on top of the needle and attached to it was a napkin that said, ‘open this for your reward.’”
The first hypodermic needle was discovered on Oct. 29 after a student clamed she had been stuck in the coin return of a Pepsi machine in Peck Hall.
Peaster said that while the first incident wasn’t something to be alarmed about, after the second the police department is taking these incidents very seriously.
“We had no reason to believe that this wasn’t a unique incident, but now I feel that it is very important to alert students,” Peaster said. “We have no idea if the two incidents were related, but we are investigating that possibility.”
“This is a team effort at this point,” Peaster said. “We are following leads, investigating evidence and conducting interviews to get to the bottom of this case quickly and more thoroughly.”
Student finds second hypodermic needle
Published: Thursday, November 5, 2009
Updated: Thursday, November 5, 2009
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