LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) - The principal of a high school in Louisiana has been accused of driving while intoxicated and crashing into three vehicles, breaking off one of the wheels on his own vehicle in the process.
Ralph Thibodeaux, 55, was arrested in Vermillion Parish over the weekend, news outlets reported. He’s the principal at W.D. & Mary Baker Smith Career Center.
No one was injured in the crashes, Louisiana State Police spokesman Thomas Gossen said. Thibodeaux has been charged with first-degree operating while intoxicated, reckless operation of a vehicle and two counts of hit and run.
Thibodeaux was booked in the Vermillion Parish Jail but has since bonded out. It’s unclear whether he had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
The Lafayette Parish School System said it could not comment on his status with the district since the arrest because it’s a “personnel matter.”
“We are aware of the arrest and are looking into it,” spokeswoman Allison Dickerson told The Daily Advertiser.
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