UPDATE: First-Grade Teacher Arrested, Suspended After Throwing Party That Sent Drunk Teen To Hospital

South Brunswick police arrested a 50-year-old mother, a first-grade teacher, after they say an underage drinking party at her home sent a 15-year-old boy to the hospital.

South Brunswick police say that medical officials have indicated that the boy’s blood alcohol level was so high it could have been life threatening if he had not received medical attention.

Tracey Harding, 50, was arrested at her home on Saturday and charged with second-degree child endangerment.

She is a first-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Edison, and she has been suspended, pending further investigation, according to NJ.com. She now has been suspended from that job, according to The New York Daily News.

According to DataUniverse, she has been teaching for about 21 years and earns about $103,000 annually.

According to a press release from South Brunswick police:

Around 11:20 p.m. Friday, police received a 911 call from another mother, whose son was attending a birthday party at Harding’s home on Homestead Lane.

That woman had called her child’s cell phone several times, initially getting no answer. Then someone else answered the cell phone and told her that her son was sleeping.

So, she called the house and spoke with Harding, who also said the boy was asleep. The boy’s mother became concerned, so she called 911 and drove to the house.

When police arrived, they found the 15-year-old heavily intoxicated and semi-responsive. The Monmouth Junction First Aid Squad took the boy to St. Peters University Hospital in New Brunswick, where he was treated and then released several hours later.

Several other teens were also at the house, and an investigation by Officer Domenick Delucia and Officer Gerald Sarno determined that several teens had gathered at the home and had been drinking vodka, beer and other alcohol.

At some point the 15-year-old boy began to slur his words, and he was not making sense.

After that boy’s mother called the house, Harding went to the basement, where she found the teen lying face down on the floor.

But no one called for medical assistance, even though the boy was semi-conscious, police said.

“As a parent or a guardian you have a responsibility with underage drinking and you face penalties if you allow it to go on in your home,’’ Police Chief Raymond Hayducka said in a prepared statement. “No one in this home contacted police or EMS to get this teenager help when he was in distress. This could have ended in tragedy if not for one mom’s intuition.”

The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office assisted with the investigation, which is continuing. Harding was released on bail set at $2,500.

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