Former students of a Laval high school science teacher are coming to his defense, after he was blamed for a prank where one of his students seriously burned another with chemicals stolen from class.
The incident happened in February 2015 at the St. Maxime high school in the Chomedey district. A Secondary 4 student took a small quantity of sodium hydroxide, or lye, from a chemistry lab and poured it on another student's head — apparently as a joke, with no malicious intent.
But sodium hydroxide is highly corrosive when mixed with water — in fact, it's the main ingredient used in drain cleaners, like Drano.
The student ended up being burned through his scalp, right through to his brain. He required hospital treatment for nearly two months and suffered psychological damage.
Recently, a judge decided the teacher on duty that day, Eric Berthiaume, got the blame for the incident, suggesting he failed to inform his class of 15-year-olds about how dangerous the substance was.
The school board was ordered to pay the victim $15,000 in damages.
But one of his former students, Simren Matharoo says the students have been told enough times by then to know not to put Drano on his friend's head.
"Since the beginning of high school, we knew about products like these, and they always tell us that it's dangerous," he told CJAD 800 News.
Another former student, Jayson Mtanos, says Berthiaume is taking it hard.
"He's not happy, he's discouraged, he doesn't have the same enthusiasm that he had before, because he feels responsible for something he didn't do," he says.
Former student Jayson Mtanos says Berthiaume changed the trajectory of his life.
"He was, like, my mentor since the beginning. He made me go to the National Science Fair, and I won a silver medal."
Mtanos and a group of Berthiaume's former students have now drafted a letter coming to his defense, suggesting Berthiaume had been made a scapegoat, and insisting he shouldn't have been held responsible for the rash actions of a 16-year-old.