Colton Henson, a member of the Ashville Village Council, tried to intercede in the recent arrest of his girlfriend, Abby Wright, by the Ashville Village Police, as shown in their body cam videos. Wright is a member of the Bernie Moreno for U.S. Senate campaign team.
Late on the Sunday night of Labor Day weekend, Ashville Village Police Officer Antonio Jester, traveling south on Long Street, stopped at the intersection with Madison Avenue, according to video footage obtained by the Herald through an Ohio Open Records request.
In his incident report, Jester stated that he observed a “white in color” car to his right roll through a stop sign, about 5 to 7 feet past the stop bar. As a result of this failure to stop properly, Jester turned on his flashers and initiated a traffic stop.
Jester followed the car as it proceeded to School Street where it parked on the left side of the street, with its left front tire over the curb and the right front tire about two feet from the curb, as also shown in Jester’s body cam video.
When the passenger exited the car first, Jester immediately recognized the passenger as Colton Henson, an Ashville Village Council member.
Jester asked who was driving and Henson replied that it was his girlfriend but did not provide her name. Jester explained that he needed to talk with her, but Henson stood in his path and replied, “I don’t think so,” according to the video.
Jester placed his finger over his body cam and muted the sound for about five seconds. Whatever Jester said was highly motivational and Henson backed off and allowed Jester to proceed to the driver side window. Jester explained to the driver that she had rolled though a stop sign at Madison & Long.
Jester said, “Do you know what I’m talking about?”
“Yes,” replied the driver. Jester’s body cam video showed Wright handing over her driver’s license and all of the papers in her glove compartment, which established her identity.
Multiple videos from Jester and the supporting officers showed that Wright was cordial and cooperative throughout the traffic stop, field sobriety tests and arrest.
Wright’s driver’s license was up-to-date, but from out of state. Jester explained in his body cam video that since she had been in Ohio for more than 30 days, she needed to have Ohio tags and an Ohio driver’s license. Jester then stated that the paperwork also revealed that insurance on the car had expired two days earlier, on August 30 — a fact that would play an important role later.
Wright admitted on video to having two glasses of wine and then Henson tried to step in, saying, “You don’t have to answer any of these questions. This is a ridiculous situation. She needs to go into my house.”
Soon, several officers joined Jester, after hearing on their radios that a traffic stop was in progress.
Jester again asked Henson to stop interfering, as shown in his body cam video. After confirming with Wright that she had no injuries that would prevent her from walking, Jester asked her to participate in a series of field sobriety tests that were administered in the road. Henson approached Jester as she began the first test, but the video showed Wright instructing Henson to stay away. By this time, Henson was standing in the grass and stayed there through the remaining series of events.
The incident report describes how Jester administered the field sobriety tests, looking for “clues” that would indicate intoxication. The incident report also explains that failure by the driver to follow instructions is just as important as failure to perform the actions required by the tests. Each failure counts as one clue.
The first test was a “follow the pen” test which involved Jester moving a pen back and forth across Wright’s face. During this test, Jester noted in the incident report that Wright’s eyes would dart all the way to her left instead of smoothly tracking the pen.
The next test was a “walk and turn test,” which required Wright to walk heel-to-toe for nine steps, turn around and walk nine steps back. Jester’s body cam video shows Wright pointing to the traffic line down the center of the road, and asking if she could walk on that line for the test instead of the imaginary line described by Jester. Her request was denied.
The last test was the “one leg stand test,” which the body cam showed Wright performing but, at the same time, failing to follow some of the instructions. The incident report claimed there were a total of 12 clues on the three tests.
As a result of the clues and what Jester called “signs of impairment” in his incident report, Jester informed Wright, “So, at this time, you’re going to be charged with OMVI (Operating a Motor Vehicle while Intoxicated) and placed under arrest. That means you’ll be put in a cruiser, we’ll read you a form, and you’ll be taken to jail. Since you’re being cooperative, I’ll handcuff you in the front, OK?”
Jester’s body cam video also shows him asking Wright, “Are you willing to do a breath test when we get to the jail?” Wright replied no and willingly signed an acknowledgment form.
Wright then asked, “I know tomorrow’s a holiday, so what happens after that?”
On video, Jester replied, “To be honest with you, since it’s a holiday, and you received (garbled), you won’t see anyone until Tuesday.”
While Wright was cooperating with the police, multiple police body cams show Henson repeatedly trying to interject himself into the proceedings. During the field sobriety tests, Officer Jester had to interrupt the test to warn Henson, saying, “Hey, Colton. I get it that you’re worried about Abby, but …”
Interrupting, Henson said, ”My attorney’s on the phone.”
“It’s great you have your attorney on the phone — I’m just going to tell you one time — stop interfering,” said Jester in his body cam video.
“I’m definitely not interfering,” replied Henson on video.
“Colton, listen. Stop interfering. While I’m on my traffic stop, and I’m doing a field sobriety test, you keep coming down and interrupting us.”
“I’m not doing that.”
“If you keep doing that, you will be charged with obstruction. Stop interfering. Thank you,” stated Jester on video.
But Henson would continue to argue with the police officers on the scene, and he would not be charged. At one point, one of the supporting officers, as shown in his body cam video, stated ”He’s been told time and time again. If that foot hits the road, he goes.” Henson remained in the grass throughout the proceedings and, as of this date, no arrest has been made for any of his actions.
Later during the field sobriety tests, Henson was told by the officers, “What I’m advising you is — go sit down — let him (Officer Jester) do his job.”
As shown in the body cam video of one of the supporting officers, Henson replied, ”We’ll go see Sheriff (Matthew) Hafey. We’ll go see what he says about this.”
After the arrest was made, Henson had several altercations with the police officers assisting Jester. When Henson’s attorney, Brian Stewart, also a State Representative for Pickaway County, later appeared on the scene, he would ask if he could take the vehicle instead of having it towed. Jester explained on video that because there was no insurance in place on the car, that it could not be driven by anyone. Stewart was always cooperative and friendly with the police, as shown on multiple videos.
Because the insurance had expired, regulations require that the car be impounded after the arrest. As part of the process of impounding the vehicle, an inventory of the contents needed to be taken. Accordingly, the police went through Wright’s car, including the back seat and the trunk to make a list of all the contents and document that nothing was missing when the car would be picked up.
During this inventory process, body cam video showed Henson having this interchange:
Officer: So, the vehicle will be impounded. We’re waiting for the tow truck to appear.
Henson: Wow!
Officer: So during impounding, we take an inventory.
Henson: It’s an illegal search and seizure.
Officer: No, it’s not. But you go ahead and think what you want to think. Abby, thank you for being so cooperative.
In another confrontation shown on the body cam videos of the supporting officers, Henson was shown standing on the porch, asking, “What’s the timeline?”
Each officer asked follow-up questions, stating they were trying to clarify the meaning of his question. Henson kept repeating himself, and appeared in the body cam videos to be unsatisfied with the responses. Henson is shown on video directing profanity at one of the officers.
One of the officers would later, as captured on the other officer’s body cam video, share his opinion of the night’s events, saying that Henson’s conduct was “pretty crappy coming from a village council member.”
The story of the arrest ends here, but there will be follow-up stories about the events at the jail that led to Wright’s release.
The Herald was delayed in receiving the videos and police report for this story. This information was first requested Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. Administrative Sergeant Donnie Mayse told the Herald to contact the Village’s solicitor, Attorney Brian Zets of Isaac Wiles in Columbus.
On Monday, Zets informed the Herald that this information would need to come from April Grube in the Village’s Finance Department.
On Monday afternoon, the Herald was informed that the Finance Department did not have the technology to process the videos, and that Mayse would need to be contacted. This runaround delayed the Herald’s investigation of the facts of the event.
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