Penngrove teacher had high blood alcohol level at time of death

A one-time Penngrove school teacher who died in a single-car crash on Lakeville Highway in Petaluma last month had a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit to drive, the Sonoma County Coroner's Office said.

The CHP suspected drunken driving in the Aug. 4 death of Lindsey G. Brandon, 26, in part because of a bottle of liquor found in her car, authorities said.

Toxicology results revealed her blood-alcohol level was 0.23 percent, coroner's Sgt. Clint Shubel said Friday.

Drivers with blood-alcohol of 0.08 percent or greater are considered legally drunk under California law.

Brandon, a 2001 graduate of Casa Grande High School, had been a substitute teacher in Petaluma City Schools for several years at the time of her death.

Last year, she taught fourth-grade at Penngrove Elementary School as a relief teacher, a district official said.

Like the district's other relief teachers, she was released from her position at the end of last school year because of budget cuts but remained on the list of substitutes for the coming year, Deputy Superintendent Steve Bolman said.

Brandon had just turned onto westbound Lakeville Highway from Highway 37 when she spun out of control and rammed a eucalyptus tree in her 2008 Honda Civic on the evening of Aug. 4, the CHP said.