3rd-grade teacher arrested on first day of school after police bodycam video shows her testing at three times legal alcohol limit on breathalyzer

A third-grade teacher in Oklahoma was arrested on the first day of school after a police bodycam video showed her testing at three times the legal alcohol limit on a breathalyzer.

Doug Ogle, superintendent of Perkins-Tryon Schools, told KWTV-TV that another teacher notified him that 53-year-old Kimberly Coates was acting strange last Thursday.

With that, Ogle and school resource officer Shane Dean confronted Coates over possible intoxication, Fox News reported, citing a City of Perkins statement.

Ogle told Coates something "seemed off" with her and that she didn’t "seem like the same person" he talked to earlier that morning, the cable network said.

Coates began to say she'd taken medicine for anxiety the night before but couldn't name the medication, Fox News said.

She then agreed to take a breathalyzer test, which showed a blood-alcohol concentration of .24 — three times the legal limit of .08, officials told the cable network.

"That’s not just one drink and you’re there," Perkins Police Sgt. Spencer Gedon noted to KWTV. "That’s several drinks."

Coates later said she was drinking late the night before and on her way to work in the morning, Fox News said, citing the bodycam video.

Another video segment of the confrontation shows Ogle entering the meeting room with Coates' bag and blue plastic cup, both of which he had just grabbed from Coates' classroom, the cable network noted.

"No more games, right?" Ogle can be heard asking the teacher while forcefully placing the cup on the meeting room table. "What is in that?"

"My juice," Coates replied, according to the bodycam video.

The school resource officer smelled the cup and had a different idea of what was in it: "Want to try again? That there is wine."

Coates said she drank from the cup the previous day and that while she's been in counseling, it hasn't helped her drinking, Fox News said.

After she refused to call someone to pick her up at the school, the officer placed her under arrest and escorted her from the building, the cable network added.

Coates was taken to the Payne County Jail and was expected to be charged with public intoxication, Fox News said.

The school district released a statement to parents following the incident stating that the district can't share additional information since it's "a personnel issue."

KWTV said Matt Langston, chief adviser from the state Department of Education, noted in a statement that the incident is "unacceptable for any teacher in the State of Oklahoma," that the department "immediately revoked Coates’ teaching certificate," and officials "will be exploring other disciplinary actions to ensure no child is exposed to this type of inappropriate behavior.”

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