Dalton teacher keeps job while DUI, other charges are pending

A City Park Elementary School teacher will keep her job at least until DUI and other charges go to court, Dalton Public Schools officials said Monday.

Teacher Amie Eldridge Gabriel, of Kenilworth Court in Dalton, was charged Oct. 9 with obstructing a law enforcement officer, possessing pills not in an original container, possession of a controlled substance, failure to report an accident with a parked vehicle and DUI, according to Dalton Police Department reports.

Police reported that Ms. Gabriel, 39, was charged after she hit two parked cars with her Hummer at Los Pablo's restaurant on Walnut Avenue and left the scene. Police reported that Ms. Gabriel told officers she had two margaritas with dinner but later refused a breath test and struggled with officers when they tried to handcuff her.

Dalton Public Schools spokeswoman Deana Farmer said in a statement that Ms. Gabriel will stay on the job for now. The incident happened during fall break, which was Oct. 9-13.

"We have conducted an internal investigation and determined that Ms. Gabriel may remain in the classroom until the matter is resolved by the courts," Ms. Farmer said.

The investigating officer stated that while he was talking to the hit-and-run victims at Los Pablo's, he spotted Ms. Gabriel's Hummer in the parking lot of the nearby Chick-fil-A restaurant. A large chunk of one of the other cars was embedded in the Hummer's right front tire.

The officer said Ms. Gabriel had red eyes, smelled of alcohol and had a pill bottle in her purse containing Methylin, a generic form of Ritalin. The bottle, which she said was taken from a student, had another person's name on it and was marked as an antibiotic, the report states.

Whitfield County Jail officials said no court date has been set.