Nine elementary school students at a South Side elementary school were taken to a hospital after eating a “suspicious” substance they thought was candy Wednesday morning.
At least six ambulances were called to Richard J. Daley Elementary Academy, 5024 S. Wolcott Ave. around 9:30 a.m., after some children “found a substance,” according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt.
Nine students became ill after ingesting the “non-toxic” substance, which turned out to be heartburn medicine, according to police and fire officials.
The patients, all of whom were under the age of 10, were taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in good condition, Merritt said.
Shortly after 11 a.m., about a dozen relatives of students stood outside the school’s north entrance, waiting to pick up their students.
Kamilah Hampton, principal of the school, told the Sun-Times that the incident was “very minor and happened off school grounds.”
An administrator told waiting parents that some of the sick children had “much less stomach pain,” and classes continued Wednesday, although families who wanted to pick up their children because of the incident had that option.
“I’m a parent too,” Hampton told one family. “I would like to take care of my babies.”