A second-grade teacher in California was arrested for allegedly driving to school drunk and teaching students while her blood-alcohol level was still more than twice the legal limit, police said.
Wendy Munson, 57, was in the middle of teaching students at the Nuestro Elementary School on Monday when Sutter County Sheriff’s deputies showed up at 8:20 a.m. to arrest her, CBS 13 reports.
Deputies said they were called to the school about a staff member allegedly being under the influence. Munson then failed a sobriety test.
There was also footage of the teacher driving to school in her inebriated state, the sheriff’s office said.
Officials noted that even after two hours passed from when deputies first approached Munson, her blood-alcohol level remained above twice the legal limit.
Baljinder Dhillon, the Nuestro Elementary School District superintendent, said in a letter to parents that once Munson was arrested, she was escorted out of the campus without further incident.
“While we are limited in what we can share as this is both a personnel matter and a matter being investigated by law enforcement, what we can confirm is that a long-term substitute will be in the classroom until further notice,” Dhillon wrote.
“Our students’ safety and well-being remain our highest priority,” the superintendent added.
Munson was charged with drunk driving, drunk driving with a BAC of 0.08% or higher, and child abuse with the possibility of great bodily injury.
A representative for Munson could not be immediately reached.
The case is reminiscent of Kimberly Coates, a third-grade teacher in Oklahoma who was arrested after allegedly showing up drunk on the first day of school in August.
Coates appeared on police body cam sobbing after she was pulled out of class for her alleged drunken behavior in front of her students, with the teacher admitting she drank alcohol on her commute to work that morning.
A breathalyzer test showed she had a BAC level of 0.24, three times the legal limit.