Miami student charged for huffing computer duster in grocery bathroom

Huffing canned air, such as computer dust spray, can cause an immediate rush but may also be paralyzing. GREG LYNCH/STAFF

Huffing canned air, such as computer dust spray, can cause an immediate rush but may also be paralyzing. GREG LYNCH/STAFF

A Miami University student is facing new charges after he was caught huffing cans of computer duster, or canned air, in a Kroger restroom — the same thing police said they caught him doing just weeks earlier.

Two Kroger employees told Oxford police they heard noise from the cans of duster in the store’s restroom, and one employee allegedly saw the man abusing it.

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

When a police officer entered the restroom on March 28, he found Nathan Tanner McGehee and computer duster packaging on the floor.

The officer said he recognized McGehee because he was the same man who had been charged with theft for taking cans of the duster from the store and doing the same thing in the restroom two weeks earlier.

McGehee, 20, and told the officer he did not want him going into the stall or touching his bookbag, according to the police report.

As the officer picked up the bookbag, the top fell open and several bottles of computer duster spray were on top, according to a police report.

The fire department arrived to evaluate McGehee and he was given medical clearance and placed in a cruiser.

At the police station, officers recovered six cans of duster spray from the bookbag, four of them the same brand as the wrappers found on the floor of the store restroom and the brand sold at Kroger.

Also found were two receipts from the Miami Bookstore from earlier that day, one of them for the purchase of two cans and another for a single can.

According to the police report, the cans had condensation on them and were still cold to the touch.

McGehee was charged with abusing harmful intoxicants and taken to the Butler County Jail. He was also ordered to not return to the Kroger store.

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