Baby squirrel survives pepper spray

MESQUITE, Texas (MSNBC) - A police officer who thought he was deterring a possibly rabid baby squirrel by pepper-spraying it got sprayed himself with bad publicity as horrified children looked on, screaming and pleading for him to stop.

The incident Wednesday at Kimbrough Middle School in Mesquite, Texas, was partially captured on camera with a 36-second clip shared on YouTube. Mesquite police said the officer was involved because of reports the animal was behaving very erratically, which might have been a sign of rabies. Before we go any further, you should know: Despite the squirrel's slight disorientation after being sprayed (as shown in the video), it is apparently fine.

School administrators called Mesquite Animal Control about the squirrel, according to CBSDFW.com, "and a technician picked it up and cleaned the pepper spray off of it before returning it to the wild."

The officer, however, may not be fine. The Mesquite Police Department says it's reviewing the case.