Substitute Teacher Overdoses On Heroin During Class

Substitute teacher Christopher Chiappetta, 26, is facing drug charges after he overdosed on heroin while teaching class in a Pittsburgh-area high school.

The alleged incident occurred in front of 11 students on Tuesday morning.

According to TV station KDKA, the substitute teacher admitted to shooting up in his car at 6:00 am that morning. Authorities recovered four bags of heroin from the man’s pocket and discovered marijuana in his vehicle.

Chiapetta now faces drug charges and charges for endangering the welfare of children. He is being held at Allegheny County jail on $10,000 bond. No attorney has been listed on his court filing.

The IBTimes reports that Chiappetta was teaching an art class at Northgate High School in Bellevue when he took a break around noon and then passed out in front of the kids he was asked to watch over.

Originally, Christopher told police that he wasn’t under the influence of drugs. He later admitted to taking the heroin.

Bellevue Police Sgt. Mike Hudson, a school resource officer at Northgate, told KDKA, “Unfortunately, it was a very realistic show-and-tell where you can preach the message to students, but they got to see live, firsthand the effects of a drug addiction problem. When a person makes a decision to use a narcotic, and he’s actually being a substitute teacher, that’s pretty severe drug usage, and he needs a lot of help.”

Police could add more charges once all the details from the incident are sorted out. The teacher may be arraigned on separate endangerment charges for each student under his care and he might also face civil lawsuits from parents of the students.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 24.

Do you think the school should have done a better job of vetting their substitute teacher?