Preliminary breath test shows blood alcohol level three times the limit
A Greene County High School teacher was arrested at school Thursday after staff members reported “abnormal behavior” to school principal Brian Phillips.
Peyton Michael Paddock, 24, is charged with operating while intoxicated and public intoxication. Phillips called the police at 11:34 am, well into the school day.
According to court documents, Paddock admitted to the officers he had drunk Black Velvet whiskey Wednesday between 9 and 11 pm. He agreed to a preliminary breath test at the school. The results showed 0.255 (percent blood alcohol), more than three times the legal limit for intoxication in Iowa. A second breathalyzer showed his blood alcohol level to be 0.184. Paddock also failed standardized field sobriety testing.
Paddock said he had driven his pickup truck to school and that he had not consumed alcohol at the school. Video surveillance footage of the parking lot shows Paddock arriving in the school parking lot and staggering from his vehicle into the school.
Paddock was booked into the county jail at 2:35 pm.
According to school superintendent Tim Christensen, Paddock is on administrative leave pending further investigation.
If Paddock is found guilty of public intoxication he will be in violation of the Board of Educational Examiners’ Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics. The code sets minimum standards of practice for all licensed educational practitioners in Iowa.
