A third grade teacher was arrested for being “drunk at work” after staff took her out of the classroom and asked her to explain why she had a mug allegedly filled with wine.
Kimberly Coates, 53, was teaching her class at Perkins-Tyron Intermediate School in Oklahoma when she was whisked out of her classroom on the first day of school to meet with the principal and a police officer.
After lengthy questioning, during which she took a breathalyzer test and consistently denied drinking at school, she finally admitted to drinking half a carton of wine by 3am.
However, after principal Doug Ogle told her that it seemed like she “wasn’t the same person I spoke to this morning,” the officer and school officials suspected that since she arrived at the school and had been drinking since class started at 8:25 am.
Coates was arrested on Thursday, August 17, on charges of public intoxication.
Kimberly Coates, 53, was arrested by Perkins police on a charge of public intoxication
The Perkins Police Department on Tuesday released bodycam footage of the meeting with Coates, showing the allegedly drunk teachers meeting with school officials and law enforcement.
Seargant Gedon told Oklahoma City’s KFOR, “The school board has contacted our school resource officer.”
“When he got there, he saw signs that she might have been impaired.”
In the bodycam footage, Ogle accused Coates of “acting weird” and being “off”. She was asked if she would consider a breath test.
Coates agreed to the breathalyser test and also tried to excuse her behavior by claiming she was taking medication for anxiety. She said she was unable to produce the bottle of medicine because she put the anxiety pill in her bag and took it earlier in the day.
Then she blows into the machine and produces a reading of 0.24. Three times the US legal limit of 0.08
Coates is then asked if she left campus today and if there were any traces of alcohol consumed in her classroom. She says she didn’t leave school today, but doesn’t answer the latter question.
The officer asks Coates if she drinks often, to which she replies, “Unfortunately, yes,” and that she’s “seeing a councilman about it.”
The Perkins Police Department on Tuesday released bodycam footage of the meeting with Coates (centre), showing the alleged drunk teachers meeting with school officials and law enforcement
Kimberly Coates (center) was teaching her class at Perkins-Tyron Intermediate School in Oklahoma when she was whisked out of her classroom on the first day of school to meet with the principal and a police officer
While Coates continues to claim that her last drink was at 3 a.m., Ogle asks if the officer believes she is “influenced by alcohol.”
Sergeant. Gedon replies, “In my honest opinion, she’s probably a functioning alcoholic.” He then tests her eyes by asking her to focus on a pen as he moves it back and forth. The officer concludes, “Yes, she’s drunk.”
At this point, Ogle tells Coates that someone needs to come and pick her up and take her home. She refuses to let him call her husband.
A police report obtained by Stillwater News Press said a school official said, “I noticed that Kimberly had red, watery eyes and thick, slurred speech.” “Kimberly had trouble completing sentences.”
“I know it’s been hard for me – will I get fired,” Coates asks.
The commissioner replies bluntly: “Honestly, yes – or you can resign.” “You are under the influence at school with children.”
Coates still doesn’t admit she’s had a drink since school and wonders if she might still have high alcohol on her breath after drinking last night.
“If you haven’t been drinking that much at eight o’clock this morning, I don’t know how you can still be that high,” said Sgt. Gedon replies.
Kimberly Coates inspects a mug she allegedly drank wine from. She said she had juice in the cup
Coates was arrested and taken to the Payne County Jail on the expected county court charges of public intoxication
A spokesman for the city of Perkins said, “At approximately 3:20 p.m. on Thursday, August 17, 2023, school resource officer Shane Dean was contacted by officials from the Perkins-Tryon School and was advised of a teacher who may have been intoxicated at the middle school.”
“The assistant senior dean contacted Kimberly S. Coates, 53, a third grade teacher, and confirmed that Ms. Coates was indeed under the influence of alcohol.”
‘MS. Coates’ breath sample, taken in a portable breath-testing device, found a blood alcohol concentration of 0.24, three times the legal limit. MS.
Coates was arrested and taken to the Payne County Jail on the expected county court charges of public intoxication.