A Georgia elementary school principal is out of a job after police say she got behind the wheel drunk, crashed into another driver, and had children in her SUV at the time. Jill Spiva, who led Addison Elementary in Cobb County, was charged with DUI following the January crash and resigned shortly after.
New video obtained by WSB-TV shows Spiva’s black SUV making a turn before slamming into a car driven by a man stopped at a red light near the intersection of Ebenezer and Sandy Plains Road, just a short drive from the school where she worked. The man, whose wife is identified as Rebecca Sumner, ended up with whiplash and a trip to the orthopedic doctor for physical therapy. Not the kind of Tuesday anyone signs up for.
Here’s where things get complicated. A witness who called 911 said she saw Spiva pull over after hitting a sign and noticed children in the vehicle. Police later confirmed kids were in the SUV but said they had been picked up before officers arrived on scene. The police report lists two children but doesn’t go into detail about them in the narrative, which has left the victims frustrated and wanting more answers.
Officers reportedly found a half empty bottle of vodka behind the driver’s seat after the crash. Sumner says her husband told police multiple times that he saw two kids in the car, and that she backed him up. Georgia law allows for an added DUI-child endangerment charge if a driver impaired behind the wheel has a child under 14 in the car. So far, that charge hasn’t been added, and the Cobb County Solicitor General’s Office isn’t commenting since the case is still pending.
A Frustratingly Slow Process
Sumner says the family isn’t happy with how long this investigation has dragged on, and honestly, it’s hard to blame them. When you’ve got a 911 caller, an alleged eyewitness account from the victim himself, and a report that acknowledges kids were in the car but stops short of laying out what happened to them, the wait for clarity feels like it shouldn’t take this long.
“We would like to see further charges regarding the children that were in her vehicle,” she said. “We’re rather frustrated. We feel that not all avenues, as far as investigating, have been utilized. We’d love to see this further investigated and justice to be served.”
Whether the extra charge gets added remains to be seen.
When the Person in Charge Isn’t Setting the Example
There’s something particularly unsettling about a school principal, someone entrusted with the safety of children every single day, allegedly driving impaired with kids in her own vehicle.
Schools ask parents to trust them with their kids’ well-being, and stories like this chip away at that trust in ways that go well beyond one bad afternoon.
This one is still unfolding, and rightly so given how serious the allegations are. If police confirm children were in that car while their driver was impaired, an added charge seems like the least of what should follow. For now, the case sits with investigators, and the Sumners are left waiting for accountability that has been slow to arrive.