A Polk County school resource officer has resigned after being arrested early Sunday on suspicion of driving under the influence, district officials confirmed.
Joy Grace Smith, 38, was pulled over by Rockmart police about 2:15 a.m. after allegedly failing to dim her headlights and maintain her lane along Knox Mountain Road, according to the incident report obtained by AJC.com.
Officers wrote that Smith, who was pulled over in a Toyota 4Runner, smelled of alcohol, had slurred speech and admitted to drinking before getting behind the wheel.
According to the report, Smith failed several parts of her roadside sobriety test before refusing a breath test.
After she was handcuffed and placed in the backseat of the patrol car, the school resource officer reportedly said, “Are you serious, I’m one of you guys.”
According to the report, the arresting officer told her that gave her no excuse to drive under the influence.
She was booked into the Polk County jail on charges of DUI-less safe, failure to maintain lane and failure to dim headlights.
Smith was released later Sunday after posting a $3,896 bond and resigned from her position Monday morning, Polk School District Police Chief Michael McGee said.
She had worked with the district’s police force since the beginning of the school year, McGee said.
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