Rival college baseball team not to blame for contaminated water, Kansas police say
Reports that a Kansas college baseball team spiked the water cooler of its rival team with paint thinner aren’t true, the Lindsborg Police Department said Thursday.
“Based on information obtained through the investigation, it has been determined that the foreign substance was not paint thinner, but rather line paint used on the field and to touch up bases,” the police department said in a news release, adding that it also has been determined that no one “associated with either college was responsible for tampering with the water cooler.”
Police found “two male juveniles as being involved in this incident and are continuing to investigate this matter.”
The news release says police will not provide any additional comments about the ongoing investigation at this time.
The Kansas Wesleyan University baseball team originally claimed Bethany College put paint thinner in its water cooler during a doubleheader Sunday. A picture posted by the KWU Barstool account with the allegations of the water cooler tampering was widely circulated on Monday.
At least six players and a coach drank the water. Police have not said whether it caused them to get sick.
Both schools made police reports on Monday, following the discovery of the foreign substance the day before. The teams were supposed to play on Saturday, but the game was postponed, possibly because of the weather.
It’s unclear if the water had been left out since Saturday.
Six of the seven people in the report have Kansas Wesleyan as their employer or school. The seventh doesn’t list the employer or school.
Lindsborg Police Department administrative assistant Julia Duell said the people who drank the water are students and one staff member. All are men; three are 22, two are 20, one is 23 and one is 31, according to the reports.
The police reports filed listed contaminated “food/water sources” or battery from someone causing bodily harm.
Bethany College also filed a police report for criminal damage to property because of what was done to the cooler.
Contributing: Taylor Eldridge with The Eagle
This story was originally published April 28, 2022 at 3:03 PM.