Gun found in teacher’s car at high school
BY BILL MILLER AND DIANE SMITH
Star-Telegram Staff Writers
FORT WORTH — A teacher whose car contained a handgun and a suspicious substance while parked at South Hills High School, is being investigated by police and school officials, according to reports.
The items were discovered Tuesday morning by a private canine service that is contracted by Fort Worth schools to detect contraband on campuses, Fort Worth Police Lt. Dean Sullivan said.
The teacher said she didn’t know how the items got into her car and that a relative who borrowed it may have put them there, Sullivan said.
Police have not released the teacher’s name because no arrests have been made. Meanwhile, they are checking into her story, Sullivan said.
“The teacher is being treated as a suspect,” he said, “but she has been cooperative through the course of this investigation so far.”
Sullivan said the substance would be tested to determine if it is marijuana. It was a “small quantity,” he said, which would normally bring a misdemeanor charge.
But, he said the high school, located at 6100 McCart Ave., is a drug-free and gun-free zone where such violations can be upgraded to felony charges.
The service’s dog became excited upon approaching a car in the parking lot of the school in southwest Fort Worth.
A dog handler looked inside a window and noticed the back end of a handgun poking out of one of the car seats, Sullivan said. Police were summoned.
A teacher walked up and asked about the commotion around her car, Sullivan said.
“Officers got her permission to search the car and they found a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun with 10 live rounds in the magazine,” Sullivan said. “In addition to this weapon, officers also found a small quantity of substance believed to be marijuana.”
Sullivan said the teacher “denied any knowledge of the gun and drugs.”
“She said a relative borrowed the car,” Sullivan said, “and was surprised by the contraband found in the vehicle.”
The school district is conducting an internal investigation and the teacher has been placed on administrative leave, said Barbara Griffith, spokeswoman for Fort Worth schools.
”We do know that our employee was not the only one with access to the car,” Griffith said.
”We are investigating the situation and appropriate action will be taken,” she added. “The employee is cooperating in every way.”
The teacher is not assigned South Hills during the school year, but she was at that campus as a summer assignment, Griffith said.
All schools in the Fort Worth school district are drug and gun free zones, which means those items are not allowed on or near a campus, said Michael Menchaca, the district’s director of Office of Professional Standards which conducts internal investigations.
Menchaca declined to say whether the teacher was tested for drugs as part of the investigation because that would delve into a personnel issue which is not publicized.
He said, however, that the district can ask employees to be tested in some cases.
”As a practice, the district may request drug screening when there is probable cause,” Menchaca said.
Additionally, employees who drive under a commercial license can be subject to random drug testing by the district and are tested as a prerequisite for employment.
Bill Miller, 817-390-7684
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