The Nassau County Sheriff’s Office said new dash camera video shows a middle school guidance counselor under the influence and behind the wheel.
Deputies said the video from March 3 shows Melissa Jadoo, 47, weaving in traffic and narrowly missing a concrete barrier.
The Nassau County School District said Jadoo counsels sixth-graders at Callahan Middle School.
The Sheriff’s Office said a man called 911 saying she was driving recklessly, and nearly hit him several times.
“She almost hit me about three times, and she’s swerving everywhere,” the caller told a dispatcher.
NCSO said Jadoo was on State Road 200 in Yulee.
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Deputies said she wouldn't initially comply when they stopped her. They said she was messing with the gear shift, and they worried she was going to drive into traffic or over them.
"Get out! Get out of the vehicle now!" a deputy commanded, before pulling Jadoo out of her SUV.
The Sheriff's Office arrested Jadoo after she refused a field sobriety test.
New video also showed her interaction with a deputy from the back of his cruiser.
“What do you do for a living?” the deputy asked.
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“I’m a middle school guidance counselor who’s probably going to lose her job tomorrow,” Jadoo said. “Really, if you had just let me go home, I’d be fine.”
The school district said this will be reported to the Florida Department of Education for investigation, and they have no further comment.
They said Jadoo has been with them for 12 years and has never been disciplined.
Student Donny Mullaly says Jadoo should be given a second chance.
“When I was in sixth-grade, I didn’t really like some of my teachers, and she helped me out with getting switched out of those classes,” Mullaly said.
“She was a nice lady, and she cared for others, and I wouldn’t have expected her to do something like that,” he added.
Action News Jax went by Jadoo’s home and tried to get her on the phone for her side of the story, but so far, we haven’t heard back.
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