CLOVIS, N.M. (KRQE) — A New Mexico school teacher who quit after a recent DWI was arrested again for driving drunk.
This time, Stephen Whittenberg was found with his car still running in a ditch near a highway. When deputies tried to see if he was okay, the arrest took an interesting turn.
It was Wednesday Nov. 15 when a driver called the Curry County Sheriff’s Department.
The driver explained, “I was northbound and I (saw) him then I spun around.”
When deputies arrived, they went up to the car and knocked on the window.
Knocking on the door for almost 10 minutes, deputies could see a man inside. It was Stephen Whittenberg, the now former elementary school PE coach who was arrested for the same thing in September.
He wasn’t responding and the deputy yelled through the window, “Can you nod your head for me if you’re having a medical emergency?”
With the car still in drive, the officers were worried he would drive away. Minutes later, Whittenberg finally rolled down the window.
The deputy asked him, “Can you step out of the car? Have you been drinking?”
Unable to put his car in park, the deputy leaned in to help before asking again if he had been drinking. This time, Whittenberg mumbled, “I was going home.”
He just stared at deputies as they tried to keep him from falling.
“Hey, look at me. You’ve gotta stay awake. You can’t be falling down on me. Okay?” the deputy said, as they waited for paramedics to arrive. Whittenburg then questioned why an ambulance was needed.
An EMT answered, “Friend, one of two things is happening. Either you’ve got a crazy blood sugar problem or you’re drunk out of your mind.”
After a stay in the hospital to sober up, Whittenberg was arrested for his second DWI in two months.
Whittenburg resigned from the Clovis school district last month following another DWI where crashed into a police cruiser.
According to court records, this is his fifth DWI arrest overall. He has one conviction.
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