Tear gas canister found days after riot

Two landscapers found a tear gas canister Friday afternoon that is thought to have been dispensed at Kirkwood and Indiana Avenues last Tuesday. \nThe canister, which still contained chemicals, was found under a pile of leaves at the Monroe County Historical Society Museum, located at 202 E. Sixth St., Friday afternoon. Police still don't know how the canister managed to get four blocks from its original location.\n"They were just here tidying up," said Kari Price, director of the Monroe County Historical Society Museum. "They found a little more than they expected." \nRachael Crouch, 22, and Becky Bastin, 37, of Outdoor Improvements of Bloomington, were cleaning the yard for an event that was held at the museum this past weekend. At about 2:45 p.m., Crouch picked up the canister, thinking it was a thermos, and tossed it onto a tarp. She and Bastin began to move the tarp to another location when they were exposed to the chemical.\n"The bottom kind of fell out and the dust got all over us," Bastin said.\nCrouch and Bastin immediately ran into the building with their eyes watering and burning. They doused their faces in the water fountain and called the police.\n"I had never been exposed to tear gas, and I thought it was a stronger chemical," Crouch said. "I had no clue." \nAn EMS vehicle arrived on the scene with the police. Richard Petermichal, from the Bloomington Fire Department, said the ambulance personnel checked on the women and gave them a few instructions. The women said the effects of the tear gas lasted 35 minutes.\nAlthough they experienced exposure to the gas, it could have been worse. \n"It was not a live grenade when they picked it up. It had already been discharged, and they got the remaining residue," Indiana State Police Sgt. Rick Wright said. \nThe canister discovered Friday looked similar to the nine red CS tear gas canisters used by the state police Tuesday morning, Wright said. But he doesn't know how the canister was found four blocks west and one block north of where the gas was dispersed. The state police are checking to confirm that the canister is theirs, Wright said. \nBefore leaving the museum, Wright conducted an inspection of the grounds and confirmed that there weren't any other canisters or dangerous materials remaining on the lawn.