Wallingford Teacher Struck Police Cruiser During DUI Incident: Report

WALLINGFORD, CT — The Wallingford elementary school teacher currently on paid leave as officials investigate a 2014 DUI incident was charged with striking a police cruiser that was parked on the side of the road for a separate motor vehicle violation on a rainy night, according to the Meriden Record-Journal.

The Record-Journal reports Theresa Winkel, 53, of Cheshire, began to drive off after striking the cruiser and failed a field sobriety test before being taken into custody in the Aug. 31, 2014 incident.

Winkel, a fifth-grade teacher at Parker Farms Elementary School who has worked in the district since 1994, pleaded guilty in December 2015 to charges of driving under the influence and first-degree reckless endangerment, according to the Record-Journal. She was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended after 120 days, and two years of probation.

Winkel was released from prison on Aug. 23 and placed on paid leave as Wallingford school officials investigate the case, according to the Record-Journal.

Winkel previously pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in 2011 after an arrest in Cheshire. She received a suspended sentence of six months in prison and 18 months of probation, according to the court docket on the state judicial website.

Read more details from the 2014 incident at the Meriden Record-Journal here.