Florida High School Student Suing District After Drunk Crash

Florida High School Student Suing District After Drunk Crash

A Florida high school student who, two years ago got drunk at his teacher's home and crashed the teacher's SUV into two vehicles, is now suing his district's school board.

Dylan Ferguson, 19, was arrested in November 2009 for driving under the influence with damaged property and leaving the scene of a crash. The teacher, Meredith Witt, now 34, admitted to officials that she gave students alcohol in her home and gave one her car keys. Witt resigned from Oviedo High School in Seminole County two days after the incident.

Ferguson alleges that Witt provided him with alcohol and prescription drugs for two years before the incident because she was romantically interested in his friend, who was also a student at Oviedo High, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

Witt pleaded no contest to providing Ferguson and three other students with alcohol, the Associated Press reports. She was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Ferguson's suit against the Seminole County School Board argues that the district should have been aware of the relationship, alleging that the district knew Witt was an unfit teacher but did not take action.

Ferguson was a senior at the time of the crash. He was charged with drunken driving. He pleaded no contest to a lesser charge -- reckless driving involving alcohol -- and was placed on 12 months' probation.

A few months later, though, he was rearrested, accused of violating his terms of probation and served seven days in the Seminole County Jail.

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