Columbia man sues pepper spray company over hospitalization

A Columbia man that was sent to the hospital after a training exercise involving pepper spray is suing the company that makes the spray.

A lawsuit filed by Galeel Lee, 22, and his court-appointed guardian, Gwendolyn Lee-Wade accuse Sabre Industries, the maker of Sabre Red, of failing to warn local law enforcement agencies of the dangers its products posed to people with certain medical conditions.

The lawsuit said Lee was going through the Law Enforcement Training Institute in order to become a Columbia police officer. The lawsuit claims that in October, Lee took a blast of Sabre Red pepper spray to his eyes, nose and mouth. Shortly after, “he collapsed became unconscious, and appeared to have a seizure.”

Doctors diagnosed Lee with “pepper spray arrhythmia,” a condition a 2016 study in the New York Academy of Science said could occur when people with preexisting heart conditions are exposed to irritants. The lawsuit claims a city medical exam in July showed that he had an “abnormality” called left ventricular hypertrophy.