what are you doing
listen you okay
yeah i'm fine you've been driving down
the wrong way the freeway for like
five miles buddy
can you undo a seat belt there
come here i'm going to take you out in
the handcuffs for a second try to figure
out what's going on all right
yes what's your name
steve
how much have you got to drink steve not
much how much is not much
you got the right hand i
[Music]
come on out here bud
[Music]
turn around for me
turn around you're having a hard time
standing woo smelly alcohol
[Music]
[Music]
this is steve
on the evening of january the 27th 2022
at approximately 10 46 p.m
the columbus division of police received
no less than 17 calls
to 9-1-1 reporting a wrong-way driver on
the freeway
officer lang with the columbus division
of police freeway division
located steve and attempted to stop him
by driving straight into steve's path
steve avoided officer lang's attempt to
stop him and continued driving the wrong
direction on the freeway into oncoming
traffic
officer lang turned around on the
freeway and attempted to pit steve
steve was determined to continue driving
the wrong way on the freeway
a short time after the pit attempt an
officer from a neighboring jurisdiction
was able to pin steve's vehicle to the
burn and officer lane was able to seal
the deal
during officer lang's investigation into
steve's suspected drunk driving
steve asked to talk to his attorney
realizing steve was not likely to agree
to take any tests
officer lang called steve's attorney and
allowed him to speak in private
after talking to his attorney steve
refused to submit to any test including
a breath test
steve's license was placed under
suspension for one year due to the
refusal
he was issued a citation for ovi
operating a vehicle impaired failure to
comply and wrong way on a highway
steve contested the charges in court and
pled guilty to an amended charge of
reckless operation of a motor vehicle
all other charges were dismissed
steve paid 552 dollars in fines
this case is now closed
henry william frank 62 46.
i'm going to try to get a try to do a
pit on here
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
open wow hands
open it up
what are you doing
listen you okay
yeah i'm fine you've been driving down
the wrong way the freeway for like five
miles buddy
can you undo a seatbelt there
come here i'm gonna take you out in
handcuffs for a second try to figure out
what's going on all right
yes what's your name
steve
how much have you got a drink steve not
much how much is not much
you got the right hand i
[Music]
come on out here bud
turn around for me
turn around you're having a hard time
standing woo smelly alcohol
[Music]
[Applause]
[Applause]
[Music]
to pit him with all that traffic
i raced up to the turnaround yeah i was
there with the stop stick but you guys
like flying by
[Music]
holy moly
that was the worst i've ever had it
yeah we passed you did you see i
couldn't get
yeah but traffic we paralleled him right
at westerville okay and then i'm like
wait there's a turnaround
steve are you injured at all buddy
are you injured
i am not injured where are you coming
from tonight
do you know where you're coming from
yes where were you coming from
um
i was coming from the uh
okay steve this is the deal
we're gonna put you here in my car here
okay
yes all right come on
you got anything you actually know about
steve
no
i'm good
all right
he's gonna flip around to the other side
i'll need to have a super body come take
pictures with
622. can i get a supervisor up here
[Music]
yeah i got it well i can't yeah whatever
well i see that i couldn't after i i see
this yeah hannah came right up it worked
out great come on over here steve yes
please okay how old are you steve
i'm 53
okay
i'll get it
all right you got you got any knives or
anything in your pockets you know about
no i have nothing in the junior that
we're worried about we're okay good good
where do you live at steve
i'm in uh
the worthington
north worthington north you know where
you're at right now by chance
um
no you have any idea where you're at
did you see all those cars coming at you
you see you went around all those cars
you almost got hit and had a head-on
several times by a semi
you went right by me with my lights and
beacons on
you didn't see any of that
i'll be quiet right now i don't know
okay okay i just wanted to make sure
you're okay
get a medic up here just to check him
out yep make sure it's not something
else but the alcohol is pretty strong
all right see i'm just gonna check your
pockets real quick okay
[Music]
[Applause]
this your id and stuff in here steve
yeah that's my wallet oh my god my id
okay i just need your driver's license
out there it's in there okay
is this are you the owner of the vehicle
steve
yes please okay all right
[Music]
did you stay for the whole game the blue
jackets game i did yes
okay
which way do you normally go home when
you leave the blue jackets game
uh 315 north uh-huh
[Music]
315 north yeah
then i turn left on the uh
towards my home towards your home okay
what's your address uh club view i got
club view club u okay
uh i'm i'm on blackstone
i'm standing in the netherlands okay
steve go ahead and have a seat there for
a second hold on for a minute i'm gonna
i'm gonna check your these cups out the
reason why i put the handcuffs on you is
i didn't know what was going on okay
you're driving down the wrong way the
freeway
and then like we tried to stop you you
didn't stop okay
all right
i'm surprised by that i apologize
well you almost got yourself killed and
other people killed tonight steve
i know me neither
hold on for a second i'm gonna take
these off of you okay
you're being cooperative now all right
i couldn't get it i
i couldn't get a pin in with that
traffic coming to me at that curve right
then well that's what i was telling him
i'm like there is a cut in the wall yeah
i'm gonna get up there and see yeah get
the stop sticks out but he
go ahead and have a seat in there for me
steve go ahead you're good go ahead have
a seat may ask yeah yes
i asked what what because it sounds like
a
where am i at
you don't know where you're at you're
driving
you're at 270 161 you drove eastbound in
the westbound lanes of 270 from sawmill
to here until i had to stop you
okay i had to put a pit on you to get
you to stop because you would not stop
okay okay go ahead and have a seat there
for me okay
[Music]
i think that's probably the most i've
been scared
i couldn't
[Music]
he he went right by me you've got your
backseat
yeah should be so you've hit him yeah
i'm coming over yeah the perfect timing
[Applause]
all right yeah
i couldn't get him up air pitted because
i had too much traffic in that curve i
had that and cars coming out spit
yeah i pity okay
he's got damage to his car you can see
the skid marks i'm sorry go ahead well
my boss is gonna be pissed why because
i'm way out of my hey this is
life-threatening no no no no no
no no no
you can't let this good no matter where
you're at
he got a problem with this
i just want to make so you hit him yeah
right keep going right
yeah for somebody he did a pretty good
job recovering from that didn't he
because i hit him i got him good
[Applause]
i did
okay they're in route good i just want
to know you buddy that's it then uh
like i said i've i tried to get the car
as i got him and i came around the
cruiser
[Applause]
unbelievable
[Applause]
hey steve
i'm gonna have medic coming over here i
want them to come up here and evaluate
you real quick okay
yeah a medic
why um well just because of what's
taking place tonight i just want to make
sure you're okay
okay okay they're just going to maybe
check your blood pressure make sure you
have a high blood pressure or anything
like that
are you a diabetic or anything like that
no no i'm good okay so just hang in here
for a second okay
i'm gonna come and come in here and i'm
gonna talk to you a little bit about
what happened here tonight all right all
right okay
scared as i've ever been
serious yeah
when you have traffic coming at you in
semis and he's literally i don't know
how he didn't hit a car head on twice
down here well i saw he wasn't even in
the hammer lane he was over in the sky
[Applause]
hey steve come on out here for a second
i got the medics coming over here they
just want to evaluate you make sure
you're okay all right all right
i'm just gonna kind of help you out here
a little bit all right
it's fine come on we're gonna go right
over here for me okay
there you go
[Applause]
when do i get a lawyer
when you get a lawyer yes um
you get a lawyer when we're all done
go ahead and step up here for a second
right now we're just making sure you're
okay steve
[Music]
there we go you're up there
thanks
one more
all right so you just have a seat right
back here okay
[Applause]
[Music]
all right
[Applause]
you see he's alright yeah he didn't want
to give his uh blood
for a check of sugar level
he did he's easy he doesn't know yeah
okay he just but they finally got it
after telling him you know
huh
medic 28 but i didn't uh i didn't tell
him just tell him he's been evaluated
[Applause]
[Music]
it's in the middle um
you know when you first saw i know you
were down by cleveland cleveland
uh westbound on i was going westbound
he's coming he's coming at me like this
i see him coming so i tried to get him
over to the shoulder of the wall with my
cruiser
and then he he just squeezed right by me
because i wanted to put him in the wall
i couldn't get there fast enough to get
him so i turned around i had no choice
because this traffic was heavy right he
would have hit somebody i don't know how
we didn't hit it up here in that curve
right i was trying to get him before the
curve the first curve but then i had too
much traffic to fit him so i had to wait
till the straight away and it worked out
great because the hand it came right up
yeah after that so okay well yeah i
don't know how if you look at the video
i think so when you looked around it was
down by cleveland yeah and it came back
yeah
how fast you think he was going he
wasn't going very fast but 45 40 45 but
i had to stop and get myself make sure i
wasn't gonna get hit turn around
but he was you know
he just didn't stop it's like his head
like this the whole time and then i'm
behind him light sirens going up front
words
didn't stop backwards got behind nothing
like i was not even there
yeah yeah he wasn't fleeing or anything
he just was not he was like he was in
his own little world
i'm 622 myself and the 637 is taking the
driver down to uh
western density
fields location on the garage
[Music]
all right stephen we're going to come
out here and we'll do some fields here
check you out here a little bit all
right go ahead and swing your feet out
sir
i don't what's what's going on sir i'm
gonna i'm gonna check your eyes and i'm
gonna check and see how you're doing
with uh your balance and stuff
see what's going on here with with you
tonight okay but
okay okay just just come out here the
front of my car here
come on over here come on over here
stephen
walk up here stephen
right here steve
all right do me a favor see you put your
feet together like this for me
i want an attorney okay this has this
has nothing to do with it
i wanna you don't want to do the test
no i i want an attorney okay you can
have an attorney because we can call one
if you want i don't know i want sam
german i don't know what i'm doing okay
basically what you're doing right now is
is called a fuel sobriety test i
understand that so so you don't want to
do the test
no i don't okay
i want okay i i want counsel okay you
can have counsel you can have counsel to
see which should do this test i don't
know okay
this has nothing to do with you should
or should under but i'll let you got
your phone you got a phone let you call
sam real quick
no you took my phone no i didn't have a
phone it was in my car i was still in
your car then okay
all right i don't have it okay
i want sam schermanski i want to know
if i should or should not do
this okay we'll go back to the car i'll
see if i can find his number i'll call
him real quick for you thank you all
right come on
thank you
strong yeah very strong yeah
he's he's he's so strong
you got sam's number by chance no i
think i used to have it i mean
i do not well we know what sam's gonna
tell him right
i don't know
yeah
okay i don't think i've ever had it i
think at one time a long time ago
let's see if he's got a service
hey uh this is officer lane columbus
police department trying to get hold of
sam
hey sam hey i have a gentleman here
that's requesting
he might be one of your clients um
stephen moore he's requesting you
um i basically got him driving the wrong
way on the freeway had a pity
and um
yeah so he's a little confused at some
points um he's in the back seat of my
cruiser right now
um but he wants to speak to you so what
i'm going to do is take you off your
phone
and i'm going to let you talk to him for
a second okay
thank you sir all right give me a second
no problem
okay i took you off speaker phone and
this is sam so go ahead and you can talk
to him okay okay thank you so much all
right go ahead and talk to him
hello
yeah
just in case so if we ain't going do
fear i'll just go through him here and
ruin his constitutional right to be done
with it i figured i'd give him the
option to talk to his attorney first
we're good
okay
okay
are you still on the phone no he's out
okay all right so what what what do you
want to do
i don't want to do any tests okay very
good okay so at this point i'm placing
you under arrest for operating a vehicle
under the influence okay okay i'm gonna
read your constitution right since
you've already spoke your attorney um
you kind of know what that is yes okay
then i've got some other paperwork to
read to you
even though you don't want to take a
test i still have to tell you the
consequences of refusing a breathalyzer
all right and after we did all that i'm
gonna do some paperwork and what was our
goal
remember what our goal was i don't know
what our goal was to get you home
tonight
so my lieutenant's here
um i'm gonna read your constitutional
rights
and then um he wants to ask you
a little bit of something about
tonight okay it's administratively it's
not criminal
part of it
okay
give me a second
did you complete high school
steve
did you graduate high school
okay do you hate college
graduate okay
what four-year degree or
yes sir okay
[Music]
now
let's see 1207.
okay
okay so listen steve this is your
constitutional rights says before we ask
any questions you must understand your
rights you have a right to remain silent
and then you say can be used against you
in court you have right to talk to a
lawyer for advice before we ask you any
questions you have a right to have a
lawyer with you during questioning
if you're unable to pay a lawyer a
lawyer will be appointed for you prior
any question if you so desire if you
wish to answer questions now without
lawyer president you have a right to
stop answering any time you also have a
right to stop answering any time until
you talk to a lawyer you understand
those rights
okay
and since i've already let you speak to
your attorney i think we're good to go
right
okay
all right
so the reason why i asked those
questions you are in my custody now i
have placed you under arrest and there's
some questions they want me to ask you a
little bit about tonight also okay
so that's done
okay the next form i'm going to read to
you steve
there's a little length you see this
form right here
this is a what they call bureau motor
vehicles 2255 form
basically what it says it's going to
request you to submit to a breath test
tonight
there's consequences if you don't give
it to me let me read it all
before you tell me no
okay because i still have to read it
regardless
okay
okay
so what this says is you're now under
arrest for 213301a1 columbus city code
operating a vehicle under the influence
of alcohol a drug or a combination of
them operating a vehicle under the
influence of this controlled substance
or listing metabolite controlled
substance
operating a vehicle after underage
alcohol consumption or have a physical
control of the vehicle under the
influence
if you refuse
to take any chemical tests required by
law your hard drive and privileges will
be suspended immediately you'll have to
pay a fee to have the privileges
reinstated
if you have a commercial driver's
license refuse to submit to the test or
test you'll be placed outserved for 24
hours you will be disqualified for
operating a commercial motor vehicle
period not less than one year and you'll
sur
and you will be required to surrender
your commercial driver's license to me
if you have a prior conviction of an ovi
obuac or operating a vehicle under the
influence of this controlled substance
uh listed in metabolite of controlled
substance
under state of misbelong and proceeding
20 years you're now under arrest for a
state ovi
and if you refuse to take a chemical
test you'll face increased penalties if
you are subclaire convicted of a state
obi
if you have previously pled guilty or
being convicted of two more ovi's wac or
cleveland offenses in the previous 10
years or pled guilty or being convicted
of five or more ovi's wacs or equivalent
offenses in the previous 20 years or
pled guilty of being convicted of a
felony of any of the above violation and
you refuse to submit the chemical test
required by law i'm authorized to use
whatever reasonable means are necessary
to ensure that you submit to a chemical
test
last paragraph says stephen if you take
a chemical test required by law
and are found to be at or over the
prohibited amount of alcohol a
controlled substance or metabolite of
controlled substance in your whole blood
blood serum plasma breath or urine a set
by law your high driving privileges will
be suspended immediately you'll have to
pay a fee to have the privilege you've
pre-instated
if you take a chemical test you may have
an independent chemical test take your
own expense that means when we're done
here tonight you go to the hospital have
tests done your own expense
okay down at the bottom of this page you
see this page right here stephen
on the right hand side it says
prohibited concentration of alcohol
based on prior conviction guilty pleas
in 10 years have you ever been arrested
for an ovi
yes sir okay
so today i'm going to ask you to submit
to a breath test tonight stephen
if you give me a breath sample and
you're over the legal limit by state law
and you have no prior convictions you're
gonna have a 90-day driver's license
suspension
if you give me a breath test and you're
not over legal limit you do not get a
suspension
however if you had one prior and you're
over it's a one year life suspension two
priors or two and three priors or three
over here on the left-hand side of this
paper it says for refusals based on
prior refusals convictions and guilty
pleas in 10 years so stephen i'm going
to ask you to submit to a breath test
you say no officer lang i don't want to
give it to you
and you have no prior convictions you'll
have a one-year driver's license
suspension starting tonight
if you have one prior you're going to
have two year license suspension two
priors or three and three or more priors
is a five-year license suspension
so i'm asking you to submit your breast
sample tonight you want to give it to me
yes or no
okay you realize at this point you'll be
suspended
from driving correct
for one year
yes okay
all right
[Applause]
all right my lieutenant's here he wants
to ask you some stuff tonight
about tonight because i
had caused damage to your car
my wife should be there all right
stephen
all right so you're being excited for
driving the wrong way on the freeway
okay ovi okay and uh okay okay so what's
over you guys operating the vehicle
under the influence okay and um signal
disobey failed to pull over when i gave
my lights and signals for you to uh pull
over you didn't do that you continued
okay okay
um so that's what you're being charged
with tonight
this is the form i read to you i request
you to submit to a breath test yes
please okay um so at this point you're
suspended you cannot drive until at
least until you go to court next
thursday and ask for driving privileges
okay thank you all right so when you
call see them
just give them that information okay
yes please all right you have any
questions for me right now no i know it
was a lot a lot of commotion a lot of
stuff was going on
it's all new to me so okay
again like our conversation
on our conversation if you got that you
probably get that taken care of okay
yeah all right sir thank you my friend
all right i appreciate your help all
right
you good
all right i'm gonna head to headquarters
and finish up
thanks
[Music]