May River assistant principal back after DUI arrest, Beaufort Co. schools confirms
May River High School assistant principal Tyrone Jackson is back at work and no longer on administrative leave after an investigation by Beaufort County School District into a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence in August, district officials confirmed Monday.
District spokesman Jim Foster declined to say whether Jackson had been reprimanded, calling the matter an internal personnel issue.
Jackson, a 36-year-old Beaufort resident, was arrested Aug. 25 by Port Royal Police Department, reports show. He was booked at 2:43 a.m. and released around noon the same day. He was placed on paid administrative leave shortly after, Foster said.
He is one of three assistant principals at the Bluffton school, according to its website. He oversees special education, buses and is the administrator for 10th grade and a portion of 11th grade, Foster said in August.
A Port Royal officer noticed Jackson’s vehicle speeding and weaving within its lane near Ribaut Road and Paris Avenue about 1:30 a.m., a police report says.
The officer noted that Jackson smelled of alcohol, and that his eyes were glassy and bloodshot, in the report.
“He appeared to be uncoordinated with retrieving his vehicle documents,” the officer wrote in the report.
Jackson told the officer he had champagne at a wedding reception where he was the best man.
Jackson was confused and uncoordinated during several field sobriety tests according to the report, skipping several letters in the alphabet and swaying and placing his foot down during a “one leg stand test.” The officer also said that Jackson failed to place his heel to his toe “on every step” of a walk and turn test.
The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette do not normally identify people charged with misdemeanors unless they are people in positions of public trust, or there is some other compelling reason to do so.