Teacher accused of taking gun to school, drunken driving

Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Sep 4, 2004 by BRIAN NEWSOME THE GAZETTE

A longtime high school teacher in Academy School District 20 was arrested this week on suspicion of taking a loaded gun to school and driving drunk.

Thomas Wesley Mangney, 44, a 14-year science teacher at Air Academy High School, is being charged with unlawful possession of a weapon on school grounds, driving under the influence of alcohol and unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon.

Having a gun on school grounds is a felony offense.

D-20 officials do not think Mangney intended to use the gun on himself, students or co-workers, based on interviews with students and staffers. Mangney told police he accidentally brought the gun onto the Air Force Academy base and took it into the school until he could figure out how to get it home, according to a sheriff's report.

"My students know, and I hope (their) parents know, that I have their best interest at heart. I love my kids," he said by telephone Friday. "They're everything to me. The only reason I do this job is because of those kids."

He deferred questions to the sheriff's report.

According to the report:

Mangney took the gun to school Monday. He told another teacher about the gun, and that teacher told administrators.

Administrators found the gun in a locked cabinet in a storage room next to Mangney's classroom. The .45-caliber gun was loaded with hollow-point bullets with a round in the chamber and the hammer in a cocked position.

Tuesday morning, a sheriff's deputy was waiting to question Mangney when he arrived at the south gate of the Air Force Academy. The deputy smelled alcohol on Mangney's breath and said he had bloodshot eyes; Mangney told the deputy he had drunk more than three- fourths of a quart of vodka several hours earlier.

Mangney told the deputy he forgot to remove the gun from his pickup when he went to work Monday. He kept the gun, he said, for protection when he goes four-wheeling.

He said he took the gun into the school building in a canvas tote bag, because he feared that his truck would be searched when he left the base. He wanted to find a way to remove the gun from the base unnoticed. One option he considered was parking in the Rockrimmon neighborhood, south of the base, and walking through the woods to retrieve the gun from the school and bring it back.

Mangney said he was suspended from D-20 with pay.

"It's likely a career-ending incident," said Nanette Anderson, spokeswoman for the school district. Mangney started his teaching career at D-20, she said. He was once president of the Academy Education Association, a group that represents teachers and staff in the district.

Air Academy High School sent out a notice to parents Friday about the incident.

"We are saddened and shocked by this incident after Mr. Mangney has served our school for the past 14 years," the statement said.

Mangney told police he has an alcohol problem and has shown up to school intoxicated on a previous occasion. He said he was on medication that "obviously was not helping," the report says.

Colorado Springs police arrested Mangney July 2, 2002, in the 1200 block of East Woodmen Road on suspicion of driving under the influence, careless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, failing to report an accident and failure to display proof of insurance.

His blood alcohol level was 0.295, nearly three times the legal limit for driving at the time, according to court documents.

Mangney pleaded guilty in a plea agreement to the lesser charge of driving while impaired.

Mangney was sentenced to 12 months of probation and 50 hours of community service. Court records show he completed an alcohol treatment program in 2003 and completed his community service at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0198 or bnewsome@gazette.com