The FBI is investigating a fight between a police officer and two female students this month in a hallway and a classroom of McKeesport Area High School.

Officer Candace Tyler, who has been placed on paid administrative leave, used pepper spray against both girls before arresting them, McKeesport police Chief Joseph Pero said yesterday, although he declined to comment on the specifics of the Oct. 5 incident.

In court papers, Officer Tyler said the students, Ashante Spears and Robin Smith, cursed and fought with her as she tried to remove Ms. Spears, who had been suspended, from the school grounds.

But Ms. Spears and Ms. Smith countered that the officer, unprovoked, attacked them both, slamming Ms. Spears' head against a wall and punching and dragging Ms. Smith from her anatomy class.

"The main thing I was thinking was, 'What did I do?' " Ms. Smith, a 17-year-old senior, said yesterday. "She just came in and hit me on the side of the head."

Chief Pero said interviews with staff and students at the school and the severity of the allegations prompted him to contact the FBI's civil rights division.

Superintendent Michael Brinkos of the McKeesport Area School District also declined to discuss specifics, but he acknowledged that local police and the FBI were looking into an incident.

"It's the district's intent to comply with any potential investigation and to make our staff available to answer any questions regarding this matter," he said.

Ms. Smith and Ms. Spears have been charged with aggravated assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

According to the juvenile complaint, Officer Tyler, assigned to security at the school, was called to the office of Tamara Sanders-Woods, the associate principal of discipline and community relations, shortly after 8 a.m. to remove Ms. Spears. The principal told Officer Tyler that Ms. Spears, 16, also a senior, had been "very disrespectful" to staff and was facing suspension.

As the officer took Ms. Spears to the front door, the girl started shouting profanities, drawing a crowd of students and teachers, the complaint said. Officer Tyler tried to arrest Ms. Spears, but she punched the officer in the forehead.

In an interview yesterday in front of Family Court, Downtown, both Ms. Spears and Ms. Smith disputed the officer's version of events. Ms. Spears said that Officer Tyler had been aggressively pushing her toward the front of the school. When she asked Officer Tyler to stop, the officer pulled her hair and banged her head against a wall, Ms. Spears said.

According to the officer's narrative in the complaint, Ms. Smith tried to intervene by grabbing the back of the officer's jacket. A teacher then pulled Ms. Smith into a classroom, and Officer Tyler used pepper spray to subdue Ms. Spears. After Ms. Spears had been placed under arrest, Office Tyler returned to the classroom for Ms. Smith, who also screamed profanities at her, the complaint said. The officer told Ms. Smith to stop, but the student punched her in the face.

Officer Tyler then sprayed Ms. Smith and placed her under arrest, the complaint said.

Ms. Smith denies that she ever struck or even touched Officer Tyler. When the officer clashed with Ms. Spears, a group of teachers surrounded the pair, keeping all students away, Ms. Smith said.

"There was no physical way that I could touch her," Ms. Smith said.

She said she did turn to Thomas Knight, an assistant principal, and tell him, "You can't let them fight like that. [Ms. Spears] is a child."

Mr. Knight replied that she should go to her next class, Ms. Smith said.

A few minutes later, as her anatomy teacher was about to close the door, Ms. Smith heard Officer Tyler coming down the hall, yelling, "Where's the fat [expletive]?"

Officer Tyler entered the classroom and told Ms. Smith to come with her, Ms. Smith said. As the student picked up her bookbag and approached Officer Tyler, the officer grabbed her hair and punched her, she said.

The officer then used pepper spray and placed handcuffs on Ms. Smith. About 20 other students and her teacher were witnesses, Ms. Smith said.

Both Ms. Spears and Ms. Smith spent the night at the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center.

The next day, after being released, Ms. Smith returned to the high school with her mother to talk to administrators, including Mr. Knight, who invited her to immediately return to classes.

"We don't feel that you did anything wrong," Ms. Smith said they told her. "Not one teacher saw you put your hands on [Officer Tyler]."

Ms. Smith and her mother also met with Chief Pero and an FBI agent, who told them they were investigating the incident.

"I was furious" about the incident and the charges against her daughter, said Carla Smith, Robin's mother. "My daughter wasn't raised like that."

Officer Tyler has been with McKeesport police since 2005, and she became one of three officers assigned to the schools in 2006 to supplement the security staff, Chief Pero said.

She has never faced discipline before.

"Based on the allegations that were made I felt more comfortable with an outside agency investigating," he said of his decision to call the FBI.

He said it would be up to a judge to decide whether to drop charges against Ms. Spears and Ms. Smith.

Both girls acknowledged that they had been suspended before for "small stuff," such as skipping class. Ms. Spears said she is still prohibited from returning to school. The girls face a hearing Oct. 27 in juvenile court.

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