Police arrested third-grade teacher Kimberly Coates on Aug. 17 after school administrators voiced concern about her behavior. She blew three-times the legal driving limit after agreeing to submit to a breathalyzer test.
Bodycam footage shows the arrest of an Oklahoma elementary school teacher for public intoxication on the first day of classes.
Police arrested third-grade teacher Kimberly Coates on Aug. 17 after school administrators voiced concern about her behavior.
In the video, Coates initially tells law enforcement that she takes medication for anxiety and suggests that could be the reason for her behavior.
She then agrees to submit to a breathalyzer test while reassuring the superintendent and principal of the school that she had not been drinking on the job.
The video then shows Coates register a .24 on the breathalyzer, which is three-times the legal driving limit.
"You haven't had anything to drink today?" asks the officer.
"Not since, well, 3 a.m.," replies Coates.
The cop then says: "Unless you drank a s*** ton at like 8 this morning, I don't see how you could still be that high."
At this point the superintendent interjects: "We think that you drank today. Not 3 a.m. We think that you drank since you've been at school. and I don't think you're being honest with us."
Coates replies: "OK, I drank on the way to work."
The superintendent then goes to Coates' classroom and returns with a plastic cup that has a red liquid in the bottom.
Coates then says that is her "juice."
She is then placed under arrest while saying to the officer: "Please don't do this."
Coates was then transported to the Payne County Jail on the anticipated District Court charge of public intoxication, while her third-grade students headed home after a first day of school they will not soon forget.
