Westport Teacher Charged After Falling Asleep At School: Police

WESTPORT, CT — A Westport elementary school speech and language pathologist is accused of falling asleep and possibly being intoxicated while teaching a student, according to police.

In a news release, Lt. Dave Wolf said police responded to Greens Farms Elementary School around 1:30 p.m. Nov. 23 after receiving a report of a possibly impaired staff member.

According to Wolf, police learned Michelle Babin, 32, of Shelton fell asleep while teaching a student and that it took staff at least 30 seconds to wake her up.

Babin is also accused of mumbling incoherently when she awoke and having an odor of alcohol on her breath, Wolf said. She was later taken to a hospital for medical evaluation.

Following an extensive investigation, police determined the student in Babin's care was not supervised appropriately due to Babin being asleep, and possibly intoxicated, when she was supposed to be instructing the student, which put the student at great risk of being injured, Wolf said.

Babin turned herself in at the Westport Police Department on Dec. 30 after a warrant was issued for her arrest. According to the warrant, she was charged with risk of injury to a child.

Babin was released after posting a $75,000 bond.

Superintendent Thomas Scarice said Wednesday he could not comment on the incident due to it being a personnel matter.

Attorney Ed Gavin, who is representing Babin, referred to the statement released by police as "reckless."

"The Westport Police Department failed to mention that, despite obtaining a search warrant for medical records, there were no findings of ETOH (alcohol) in the hospital records," Gavin said Wednesday in an email to Patch. "This is unfairly leaving the impression that a teacher was intoxicated when there is no objective evidence to support this claim."