Inset: Philip Scire (Hernando County Jail). Background: Explorer K-8 school in Spring Hill, Florida (Google Maps).
A Florida teacher was allegedly busted for driving drunk on campus — on the second day of school.
The Hernando County Sheriff”s Office said in a Facebook post that deputies responded to a single-vehicle crash around 11:43 a.m. Tuesday to the campus of Explorer K-8 in Spring Hill, which is some 50 miles north of Tampa. The school resource officer was the first deputy on scene and found teacher Philip Scire, 32, in the car that had crashed into a fence in the rear parking lot of the school.
Scire was allegedly unconscious with the vehicle still in gear.
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“The deputy also observed several empty single-serving alcohol containers within reach of Scire,” the press release said.
Paramedics took Scire to the hospital for evaluation. Deputies arrived to speak with Scire and noted he smelled of alcohol, cops said. Investigators made “numerous attempts” to obtain consent from Scire to submit to a blood draw to determine his blood alcohol content but he refused, according to deputies.
Once released from the hospital, Scire was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence and taken to the Hernando County Detention Center where he has since posted a $1,000 bond. His next court date is scheduled for Sept. 3. Scire was previously arrested on a charge of DUI in Broward County in 2014, cops say.
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Students in the Sunshine State returned to school on Monday. According to the Explorer school website, Scire teaches language arts for grades sixth through ninth.
The Hernando County School District told McClatchy News that the crash was first attributed to a “medical situation.”
“The employee has been placed on administrative leave pending the results of the ongoing investigation,” the statement said.
