Vili Fualaau, who notoriously wed his sixth-grade teacher Mary Kay Letourneau in 2005, has been arrested and charged with driving under the influence

Mary Kay Letourneau Reportedly Stepped in After Her Student-Turned-Husband Was Arrested

Vili Fualaau, who notoriously wed his former sixth-grade teacher Mary Kay Letourneau, has been arrested and charged with driving under the influence after he allegedly crashed his SUV into two cars last month, PEOPLE confirms.

Letourneau herself reportedly also became involved in the Feb. 2 incident, though she and Fualaau separated last year.

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According to court documents, the 34-year-old Fualauu was driving his Mercury Mountaineer in Burian, Washington, when the wreck occurred. When cops arrested him, he allegedly had slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and a dazed expression.

According to TMZ, Fualaau initially agreed to take a field sobriety test but before he could get started, Letourneau, 56, arrived on the scene and told him not to proceed with the test because his attorney was on the way.

He instead submitted to a blood test at the police precinct, TMZ reports.

A source close to Letourneau tells PEOPLE that the former teacher has always taken a protective stance with her husband.

“It certainly sounds like something she would do,” the insider says. “She has always loved Vili and makes sure that things go right for him. That’s the type of person she is.”

Image zoom From left: Vili Fualaau and Mary Kay Letourneau in 2015 Heidi Gutman/ABC/Getty

Police say that Fualaau’s blood alcohol content was .08 when he was stopped and that he had THC in his blood. He was booked on a charge of DUI and posted $10,000 bond. He has not yet entered a plea and is due in court next week.

His attorney did not respond to a message seeking comment on Friday.

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This is not the first driving mishap for Fualaau. In December 2005, he was pulled over in a Seattle suburb. A breathalyzer test registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.136, well over the legal limit. He was sentenced to a year in jail, with time suspended except for one day.

The couple legally separated last year after 12 years of marriage. Despite that apparent split, Fualaau and Letoureanu are still living together and have recently been spotted out together near their Washington home.

Image zoom From left: Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau in an undated photo Splash News Online

The two have generated international headlines for decades.

In 1996, Letourneau began a sexual relationship with Fualaau when he was her sixth-grade student in Seattle. Letourneau, then in her mid 30s, began having sex with Fualaau when he was 12 years old.

Their affair ignited national controversy and revulsion, particularly after Letourneau defied a court order to stay away from Fualaau, after which the judge in her case ordered her back to prison.

Following a conviction for felony second-degree rape of a child, Letourneau was originally sentenced to six months in jail, with three months suspended, and told to have no contact with Fualaau for life. But she was unable to stay away from him and was re-arrested when she was caught having sex with him — again — in a car.

Letourneau was sent back to prison and was released in 2004. She twice became pregnant with Fualaau’s child when he was underage.

After finishing her sentence, Letourneau married Fualaau in 2005 and they settled in King County, Washington — occasionally speaking out about their lives, but maintaining relatively low profiles.