Tag: ST. JOHN POLICE DEPARTMENT
Indiana Teacher Arrested After Alleged Drug Use in Classroom Caught on Video, Reported by Students
A high school teacher in St. John, Indiana, was arrested Wednesday after students allegedly observed her doing drugs in an empty classroom and reported the incident to campus administrators, police said.
One student recorded the alleged act with a cellphone camera from a window looking into the locked classroom at Lake Central High School around 10:30 a.m., according to KTLA sister station WGN in Chicago.
“She’s in the corner, hiding with a chair and a book and what appears to be cocaine, putting it into lines,” junior Will Rogers told the station.
At first, he wasn’t sure what he had seen.
“I actually watched the footage, again and again, and I just realized that my English teacher just did cocaine,” Rogers said.
The video quickly circulated among the approximately 3,400 students at the school, according to WGN.
Students reported the incident to school administrators, who notified police about 11:30 a.m., according to a St. John Police Department news release.
As a result of the investigation, 24-year-old Samantha Cox was arrested on suspicion of possessing a controlled substance, a felony, and possessing drug paraphernalia, which is a misdemeanor, the release stated.
Cox was described as a popular English teacher who was in her second year at Lake Central High, students said.
She was led out of the school in handcuffs, WGN reported.
Police praised the students for “very quickly” bringing the information to school administrators.
“Their actions showed a tremendous amount of fortitude and integrity and enabled staff to address this situation promptly,” the release stated.
Authorities are still investigating.