A Baltimore County Public Schools employee was placed on leave after being charged with a DUI and leaving the scene of an accident in a school vehicle on Sunday, according to a statement from a schools spokesman.
Gordon Clifton, a field representative in the district's Building Services office, was charged in the May 22 incident in Salisbury. Officers responded to a report of a hit and run around 9 p.m. and then to a report of an intoxicated guest at a nearby hotel, according to a state police statement. At the hotel they found Clifton's car, which showed damage and contained empty beer cans and a loaded 9mm handgun, the statement read. Clifton was intoxicated and taken to a local hospital, police said.
Clifton received citations for reckless driving, driving under the influence, and leaving the scene of an accident, according to online court records. The charges stem from the collision on Route 13 at Dagsboro Road with a Chrysler Town & Country. A female passenger in that vehicle was taken to a local hospital for injuries. Her condition is not known.
Clifton could not be reached for comment and no lawyer was listed in online court records.
Clifton had been attending a conference in Ocean City, schools spokesman Mychael Dickerson said. "Due to the serious nature of the charges," Dickerson said, "the employee has been immediately placed on leave pending the outcome of the investigation."