Niles High School’s varsity volleyball coach reportedly has resigned after her arrest on charges she was intoxicated while driving players to a game.
On July 10 police arrested coach Samantha Zimmerman near Kalamazoo after she drove into a ditch while taking five players to a game at Gull Lake High School. The players weren’t hurt and were picked up and taken to the game by someone else before police arrived.
The 34-year-old Zimmerman faces misdemeanor charges of operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol content of .17 or more, and operating while impaired by liquor. Court records say her blood alcohol was measured at .18, more than twice the legal limit.
A Michigan Department of Natural Resources officer who made the arrest wrote in his report that Zimmerman showed signs she had been drinking. When he asked her if she had been drinking, she laughed and said she had not. But after a breath test showed she had, Zimmerman told him that she had drank only one Michelob Ultra beer with lunch five hours earlier.
In addition to coaching the varsity volleyball team, Zimmerman also teaches first grade at Howard-Ellis Elementary School. Niles school officials did not reply to messages asking about her employment status. Leader Publications reported Zimmerman has resigned and is no longer employed by the school district.
