Police, OHP involved in bizarre arrest

A man from Mesquite, Texas, has been charged with one felony and four misdemeanors stemming from an incident when he allegedly struck Clinton policeman Curtis Weatherly in the face with his fist and repeatedly urinated on the passenger seat, inner door and floorboard of Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Gary Smith’s patrol unit.
The suspect was identified as Patrick Kirk Henson Jr., 35.
A woman who was riding with him when his vehicle was stopped by Officer Weatherly allegedly got out of it naked from the waist down. She was identified as Rebecca Lynn Brown, 37.
The couple were in a 2015 Chrysler that was stopped about 10:25 p.m. on May 30 somewhere west of mile marker 66 on Interstate 40. That’s near the U.S. Highway 183 overpass in Clinton, and it’s where Weatherly had set up after another motorist – a female – called in reporting that the Chrysler had been driven recklessly from at least the Custer City Road crossover. The reporting party said the Chrysler had run off the road several times itself and had forced another vehicle off the roadway as well.
An affidavit of probable cause written by Trooper Smith said Weatherly saw it go past him and began to follow it, watching as it passed one vehicle at about 80 miles per hour and cut back in too quickly, forcing the driver of that auto to brake suddenly to avoid a collision. The Clinton policeman tried to stop it by turning on his red lights and siren, but it took about a quarter mile before he succeeded.
When the Chrysler did stop, Weatherly approached it on the passenger’s side with his gun drawn and called OHP for assistance. Trooper Smith said he responded and saw that the driver of the Chrysler had his hands on the steering wheel but otherwise was not responding to Weatherly’s instructions.
“His eyes were extremely red and watery, and his speech was thick and slurred,” Smith wrote in his affidavit. He said he asked the driver, identified as Henson, to get in his patrol car. When he asked for a driver’s license, the subject said he didn’t have one and tried to change the subject, saying something about trying to get an “occupational license.”
When asked how much he’d had to drink, he allegedly gave conflicting answers ranging from “nothing” to he’d “just had a drink.”
Upon entering Henson’s name in his computer, Smith said he learned that the suspect’s Texas license was suspended.
When asked about his and his passenger’s destination, he allegedly said they were coming from Dallas and were heading to San Antonio. Pressed further, he said he had no idea where they were now.
Smith said he tried to administer a field sobriety test on the subject but gave up quickly. He said that at approximately 11 p.m., he secured Henson in his patrol unit.
Ms. Brown then was asked to exit the Chrysler, and that’s apparently when the officers realized her lack of clothing. However, she did have a blanket wrapped about her.
She was arrested for public intoxication and taken by Weatherly, at Smith’s request, to the Custer County Jail. As the trooper tried to inventory the Chrysler, Henson began yelling that he had to use the bathroom “and repeatedly did so” in the patrol car.
Smith wrote that he told the suspect he could use the bathroom once they got to jail and tried to close the car door. However, he said Henson prevented him from doing so by sticking his knee in the way.
Thereupon, said Smith, he told the suspect he could stand outside the patrol car and urinate. But instead of doing so, he said Henson insisted on his hands being released.
Eventually, said Smith, he asked Officer Weatherly – who was back by then or hadn’t yet left with Ms. Brown – to bring him his raincoat which he placed on the passenger seat of his unit. But instead of relieving himself on the raincoat, Henson allegedly reached down despite his handcuffs, removed the raincoat from beneath himself, and tried to urinate on the patrol car’s upholstery.
He then was forced out of the car onto the ground and Officer Weatherly threatened to use his Taser if the subject didn’t cooperate. But when put back into the car, Smith said the subject was angry and pulled his pants down again and relieved himself on the passenger seat, door and floorboard.
“Once he urinated, it appeared that he passed out,” the trooper wrote.
Upon inventorying the Chrysler, Smith said the officers found green leafy marijuana and an opened fifth of “80 proof” tequila. In the trunk he said they found a metal sharpstone commonly used to grind marijuana.
After the suspect was taken to jail, he apparently recovered enough to make a vulgar gesture toward the officers. Smith also said as they were leaving the jail cell, Henson tried to follow them out and when Weatherly put his hand up to stop him, the policeman was struck in the face with a closed fist.
As his final act of defiance – at least it was the last one recorded in the affidavit – Henson allegedly looked at Smith, and even though he himself was black, used a racial epithet to address the trooper.
Henson was charged with assault and battery on a police officer, driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, possessing a controlled dangerous substance, unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, and obstructing an officer.
In addition, he is scheduled to appear today on complaints of transporting an open container of alcohol, operating a motor vehicle without a valid driver’s license, and reckless driving.