By Rachel Brown rachelbrown@daltoncitizen.com and Mark Millican markmillican@daltoncitizen.com
Dalton Daily Citizen
DALTON —
A Bagley Middle School teacher was arrested Wednesday morning on DUI and other traffic charges, authorities said.
Jennifer Lynn Zeigler, 45, of 162 Parsons Road in Chatsworth, was also charged by the Eton Police Department with following too closely and speeding when she was clocked traveling 63 in a 35 mph zone near Ga. Highway 286 and U.S. Highway 411, according to an incident report from the police department.
Murray County Schools personnel director Danny Dunn said Zeigler has been with the school system for more than 20 years and teaches seventh-grade language arts at Bagley Middle School.
“All I can say is that we are investigating the situation, but we’re not at the point of making any decisions at this point in time,” Dunn said at mid-afternoon on Wednesday.
School officials would not say whether Zeigler had been placed on leave and declined to answer additional questions while the investigation is ongoing.
The incident report states Zeigler told the arresting officer she needed to get to Bagley by 6:30 a.m. to open the school. According to the report submitted by Officer Todd Pasley, he saw Zeigler speeding in a Nissan Altima and began to try to pull her over. Zeigler apparently hit another vehicle on the road as that was happening, the report states, causing minor damage to her front bumper.
The report states Pasley noticed Zeigler was unsteady on her feet and had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech. Zeigler “would not follow instructions” for taking field sobriety tests or for taking a blood alcohol test at Murray Medical Center, the report states.
Zeigler bonded out of the Murray County Jail later Wednesday on a $2,024 pre-set bond, a jail spokeswoman said. She did not immediately return a phone message left at her home Wednesday afternoon.
