Police have charged a Hamilton elementary teacher with attempted murder after investigators determined she intentionally drove a car into Columbus Lake while her 2-year-old was riding inside.
Cari Campbell Cullum, 34, is accused of backing the car off a boat ramp just after 3 a.m. Sept. 21 into the lake off Wilkins Wise Road.
By the time police arrived, a friend of Cullum’s had already pulled the suspect and her daughter from the vehicle, according to a Columbus Police Department press release. The friend told police he had to break one of the car’s windows to pull the two to safety.
Police previously reported the driver had called the friend.
No one was hurt in the incident.
The press release says the suspect has two other children besides the toddler. Police Chief Fred Shelton said the children have been placed in the care of another adult.
According to her Facebook page, Cullum has been employed with the Monroe County School District as a second grade teacher at Hamilton Elementary School, which MCSD Superintendent Brian Jernigan confirmed to The Dispatch Tuesday.
Jernigan said he could not discuss her current status with the district because it is a personnel matter.
Municipal Judge Gary Goodwin set Cullum’s bond at $400,000 and ordered her not to have contact with any of her children.
Cullum is currently in custody at Lowndes County Adult Detention Center.
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