HS BURN HORROR
Suit: Another NYC student disfigured in classroom experiment
A Bronx high-school chemistry-class experiment went horribly awry, creating a “fireball’’ that severely burned a violin-playing honors student and another teen, a new lawsuit claims.
The terrifying incident was at least the second time in four years that city high-school students suffered horrible burns and had to be hospitalized because of classroom science demonstrations gone wrong.
“The lesson here is that the Department of Education needs to start making sure that all protocols are followed properly,” said lawyer Jeffrey Bloom, who is repping Claudette Joseph, one of the injured teens in the latest classroom debacle.
Joseph, who Bloom said is an accomplished violinist, was a junior at the Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies in Morrisania when the October 2018 incident occurred, according to the recently filed Bronx Supreme Court lawsuit.
She and other students were huddled around teacher Eric Broussard as he conducted an experiment known as the “Carbon Snake,’’ the suit says.
The demonstration, popular on YouTube, involves heating sugar and baking soda. The mixture’s carbon dioxide is released in the process and a blackened solid resembling a snake then rises out of the mixture.
Broussard was using flammable rubbing alcohol as part of the demonstration and vapors from the bottle suddenly ignited in a “fireball,’’ according to the suit and Bloom.
Joseph, 18, and another female student began screaming as flames scorched their faces, torsos and hands, Bloom said.
Joseph was rushed to a nearby hospital and treated for seconddegree burns that left her with permanent scarring, according to Bloom.
“This has been extremely traumatic for her and her family,” the lawyer told The Post. “Every time she sees these scars, she is reminded of what happened that day.”
The other teen also had to be hospitalized, according to a police report on the incident.
Joseph’s suit says her teacher and his assistant “knew or should have known that the ... demonstration carried a potential risk of significant injuries, including severe burns.”
It adds that a federal warning had previously been issued about the hazards.
The teen still attends the school, according to Bloom.
The suit comes fewer than five months after a jury awarded nearly $60 million to a former Manhattan student who suffered horrific burns during another bungled classroom science experiment.
Former Beacon HS student Alonzo Yanes, now 21, was permanently disfigured by the outof-control “Rainbow Experiment,” in which his teacher used a bottle of methanol to ignite different color-producing salts and he caught fire.
Bloom’s legal partner is Ben Rubinowitz, Yanes’ lawyer.
Joseph’s suit does not specify a dollar amount.
The city Department of Education said in a statement Tuesday, “The safety of our students is our top priority, and the teacher involved in [Joseph’s] experiment was immediately reassigned away from students. We will review the lawsuit.”
The department did not respond to questions about whether any new classroom safety policies have been instituted since either of the fire incidents.