Two University Police officers were sprayed Friday with chemicals spewing from a bottle during a routine patrol, said Melanie Magara, assistant vice president of Public Affairs.

Magara said police found two NIU students messing around with a bottle of chemicals around Lot X, north of University Apartments, some distance from the residence halls.

When the police arrived on the scene, they spoke to the students for a few minutes before the students left, Magara said. The officers checked around the mound where the students were and chemicals soon began to spray from the bottle.

Magara said the officers quickly rinsed themselves with a saline solution they were carrying and only suffered minor injuries.

The officers went to Kishwaukee Community Hospital where they were examined and released. The injuries were less than sunburn in severity, and both officers were back on the job the next day, Magara said.

It is suspected the students meant no harm with this experiment, Magara said.

“The students were probably just trying to see the interactions of the chemicals,” Magara said.

The incident remains under investigation by police and the Judicial Affairs Office.

NIU Housing and Dining said it had no information on the subject.