A Richardson ISD substitute teacher arrested this week on suspicion of being drunk at school disputed the charge Wednesday.

"I would certainly not show up to work intoxicated," said Thomas Brownlee, 56. "I would have called in or stayed home and not come."

Mr. Brownlee, of Dallas, admitted drinking two small cups of wine with his lunch at a seafood restaurant before showing up at Parkhill Junior High about noon Tuesday. He was scheduled to teach a music class at the Far North Dallas school, he said.

"They might have smelled some white zinfandel on my breath," said Mr. Brownlee, who said the district had notified him that he is suspended from teaching.

The jazz saxophonist said he arrived at the school before his class was to start and played his instrument for students as they ate lunch.

"If I was intoxicated, I couldn't be playing like that," he said.

"I'm thinking somebody is hating on me, maybe the other music teacher."

He said he proceeded to the band room and was soon told to go to the school office.

A Dallas police report says a teacher suspected that Mr. Brownlee was drunk and notified an officer who was working at the school.

The officer began administering a sobriety test, but Mr. Brownlee "was so intoxicated that all further testings had to be stopped for [Mr. Brownlee's] safety," the report says.

Mr. Brownlee disputed that account.

"They gave me some bogus field sobriety test," Mr. Brownlee said.

"Next thing I know, I'm in handcuffs and I'm going out of there."

Mr. Brownlee was arrested on a public intoxication charge and released later Tuesday. The district says he was never alone with any students.

The longtime Dallas resident has been a substitute teacher for Richardson ISD off and on since 2001, said Tim Clark, district spokesman. Before that, he was a teacher's aide in the district, though it was unclear for how long, Mr. Clark said.