Police: Justice Resnick drove away from officers, may face more charges
The Toledo Blade is reporting that when first pulled over by Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers in Wood County, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick defied an order and drove away from police.
Having received six cell phone calls from motorists alerting them to a vehicle weaving across lanes on I-75, the Blade reports a Bowling Green officer and then a highway patrolman approached the vehicle after finding it stopped at a BP gas station at the Bowling Green exit of I-75. According to the patrol's report, they took her driver's license and registration, and she identified herself as a Supreme Court justice, and denied having had any alcohol or taken any medication. But in a separate police report observed by the Toledo Blade, the Bowling Green officer said her movements seemed "very slow and delayed."
Police told the media Resnick refused to take a vision test and drove off despite the officers' protests.
"I informed her that she was not free to go," the Blade quotes Bowling Green Police Officer Mark Hanson as saying in his report of the incident. "She thanked us, rolled up her window, and drove off."
Much of what happened next was captured on an OSHP dash camera.
Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.
As the patrol car followed, Resnick's Jeep, which is owned by the State of Ohio, can be seen weaving back and forth within the right lane and then briefly straddling both lanes. The Blade reports that police described earlier seeing her dart into the right lane between two tractor-trailers without a turn signal after she had apparently spotted the car behind her.
According to the OSHP, a patrol car and local police caught up to her after she had pulled back onto I-75, pulled her over, and arrested her for driving under the influence and driving outside marked lines.
On an arrest video released yesterday by the patrol, Resnick could be heard from inside her vehicle saying, "You don't have a good reason to stop me." She continues, "It's not right. I was not weaving anywhere. … I really cannot tolerate this."
She repeatedly asked them to return her license and registration so she could leave.
"This is terribly embarrassing. What are you going to do with me?" she can be heard saying to officers. "You are embarrassing me."
In one segment, Resnick can also be heard telling troopers "I've always said a Supreme Court justice should have a highway patrolman driving them."
The Blade provides three video segments on its website, which can be viewed by clicking here:
"They later conducted a series of tests, an eye test and a portable breath test, which is not an evidentiary test," the Blade quoted patrol spokesman Lt. Rick Zwayer as saying. Reports say she registered a .216 on the portable breath test administered in a patrol car along I-75, twice the legal limit for driving under the influence of alcohol.
According to Columbus' 10tv.com, questions are now being raised as to why she has not been charged with fleeing or disobeying an officer. According to the report, the OSHP has asked the Wood County prosecutor to consider additional charges.
In upholding the constitutionality of the (now defunct) Ohio concealed carry ban in 2003, Justice Resnick sided with the majority, ruling that the restriction on the right to bear arms for self-defense was necessary because it served "a compelling government interest'' - that of protecting the "public safety."
Ironic, isn't it, that drunk drivers truly DO present a documented threat to public safety, while concealed handgun licenseholders have been proven to be some of the most law-abiding citizens in our society?
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