A Spartanburg, S.C. math teacher was arrested on Friday after she was pulled over for driving erratically on the way to a cross country meet on the other side of the state. In the back of her Chevy Suburban were seven high schoolers, likely playing on their iPhones.
According to the official report released Tuesday, Dedra Kiser, the team's assistant coach, was pulled over around the 205th mile of I-26 after drivers for the past 50 miles had been calling them to report the SUV's veering.
"They were swerving over the fog line, straddling lanes of traffic, and almost hit another car," said a local police officer, who was tailing Kiser's vehicle before state troopers finally pulled her over. God knows how they'd survived that long; a quick Google Maps search shows she made it almost 200 miles from the high school.
According to The Post & Courier:
The trooper reported a strong odor of alcohol as Kiser sat behind the wheel. The report said she swayed when she was asked to stand, could not walk heel to toe, and could not stand with her feet together and arms by her side without swaying.
Kiser was taken into custody and charged with driving under the influence and later with child endangerment, as five of the seven students were minors. The district issued a release saying they were not cool with cross country coaches getting likkered up and then driving students to meets. They have placed Kiser on paid administrative leave while investigating.
The students themselves were held at the state trooper office in North Charleston. All competed in the meet the following day.
And about that meet: while the identities of the seven may never be known, it's unclear if the excitement of the commute hurt Spartanburg's performance. Senior Myers McKinney won the varsity boys 5k race in 15:07, leading his team to a third-place finish, but the girls, possibly still rattled or maybe just not that good, finished 21st overall.