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Article IndexBY ALICIA CRUZ
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
The 15-year-old Vernon High School student accused of using prescription eye drops to taint the drink of a classmate he claimed was mercilessly bullying him will spend 60 days in the Morris County Juvenile Detention Center, the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office announced.
School officials stated an in-school investigation produced no evidence of harassment, bullying or intimidation against the student, whose name is being withheld due to his age, said Vernon schools Superintendent John Alfieri. Steven Marcus, executive director of the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System, said ingesting eye drops can be “very dangerous,” but would not divulge extensive information, for fear it could spark copycat assaults, NJ.com reported.
The teen came up with the idea to poison his alleged nemesis drink from a scene in the 2005 romantic comedy "Wedding Crashers," where actor Owen Wilson spikes the wine glass of his nemesis played by Bradley Cooper.
In the student's case, he just wanted the bullying to stop and figured the student would suffer a little diarrhea from the eye drop solution. Except in the Highland Lakes teens case, there will not be a happily ever after. He pleaded guilty to third-degree aggravated assault and fourth-degree endangering. In addition to his detention, Family Court Judge James Farber tacked on 18-months probation and ordered the student to pay an undetermined amount of restitution to the victim.The “Wedding Crashers” movie scene left a student at the Oxford School of Hair Design in Connecticut with a criminal record after she accidentally poisoned the wrong drink and ended up sickening her supervisor. According to Brainz.com, Olga Louniakova's stunt proved "eye dropping" a drink can severely poison the victim versus simply give them diarrhea. Louniakova was found guilty of second-degree reckless endangerment and sentenced to two years probation.
A Vermont woman was arrested in June 2009 after she slipped a co-worker a "Visine Mickey" during a Halloween party. The co-worker became ill and died several days later. An autopsy could not prove the Visine contributed to the woman's death, the North County Gazette reported. Denise Moyer was later charged with third degree assault.
A Long Island woman was arrested in June 2006 after she allegedly spiked her roommate’s iced tea with an unknown amount of Visine causing him to experience vomiting and rectal bleeding. Kristine Anzalone pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault and third-degree criminal mischief. She later accepted a plea bargain that included $10,000 in restitution, an order of protection and three years probation, Gothamist.com reported.
Whole Market grocery chain settled a lawsuit filed by customer Rudy Trabanino who said a wheatgrass smoothie spiked with eye medication as a prank sickened him. The natural foods retailer fired employee Caroline Brooks, who admitted she and the store's juice bar clerk laced the drink with Visine as a "good-natured" joke. Trabanino, a Houston bar and restaurant operator, sought $40,000 in lost wages for the six months he missed work and more than $11,000 in medical bills. The rest sought was punitive damages. Trabanino suffered from headaches and other maladies long after the prank, the Associated Press reported.
