A Phillips Avenue elementary school teacher is facing DWI and weapons charges after a traffic stop in in Southampton Village early Saturday morning.
Joe Johnson, 38, of Southampton, was arrested Saturday and charged for driving while intoxicated, aggravated unlicensed operation and criminal possession of a weapon, police said. Johnson was stopped on Hill Street at about 3:35 a.m. He was found to be intoxicated, driving with a suspended license and in possession of a loaded .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol, police said.
“The Riverhead Central School District is monitoring the matter and will of course cooperate with the Southampton Village Police Department,” Schools Superintendent Nancy Carney said in a written statement. “Mr. Johnson has been administratively reassigned to his home, effective immediately. Any further action, if and when appropriate, will be taken after the charges are addressed by the court,” she said.
Johnson is a fourth grade teacher at the Phillips Avenue elementary school in Flanders.
He was arraigned in Southampton Village Court on Saturday morning.
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