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Lake County teacher rams deputy's car, arrested for DUI on way to work

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — A Lake County kindergarten teacher is on paid leave after deputies said she was driving out of control and under the influence of prescription drugs on her way to work.

Deputies say Monica Jenkins said she didn't remember ramming into a deputy's car twice when he tried to pull her over.

Investigators said Jenkins was driving her SUV to her teaching job at Sorrento Elementary School when she was arrested.

According to deputies, they believe Jenkins had taken hydrocodone. They said she told them she did not remember them trying to pull her over, that she passed a stopped school bus or that she hit the deputy's car.

According to reports, deputies received several 911 calls reporting that that Jenkins was swerving, forcing cars to move out of her way and driving in the opposite direction into oncoming traffic.

Jenkins told deputies she had taken hydrocodone the night before and then again the morning she left for work, citing several medical conditions.

Channel 9's Renee Stoll asked Jenkins about the hydrocodone.

"Do you want to say anything about the medication you were on because it sounds like you were on some heavy dosage of hydrocodone?" Stoll asked Jenkins.

"No I wasn't thank you," she said.

Stoll learned that Jenkins has been teaching for 28 years in Lake County. This is her first year of teaching at Sorrento Elementary and that Jenkins was moved from Eustis Elementary School for inappropriately disciplining a student.

Investigators said Jenkins told deputies she had dropped her kids off at school before she was arrested.

The school district said Jenkins is on paid leave while they investigate the arrest.

Jenkins is facing charges of DUI and fleeing and eluding.