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Report: ACC commissioner kicked officer during DUI arrest


District 9 County Commissioner Ovita Thornton

By Joe Johnson

A county commissioner reportedly kicked a police officer when she was being arrested for an alleged alcohol related car wreck.

According to a police report, ACC District 9 Commissioner Ovita Thornton on the evening of Feb. 20 was driving from a restaurant, where she admittedly had something to drink, when her car struck a curb and utility pole near West Hancock Avenue and North Harris Street.

The commissioner’s car was missing a front tire and the wheel’s metal cylinder was bent, according to the report, in which an officer noted that Thornton had an odor of alcohol with slurred speech and ignored or refused to comply with instructions.

When asked if she would submit to sobriety testing, Thornton replied, “No, not today,” and when the officer told her she was under arrest Thornton “actively resisted” attempts to handcuff her, according to the police report.

The report indicated that Thornton resisted attempts to get her to sit in a police car, and when officers physically assisted her into complying, she kicked one of them in the chest as the officer leaned into the vehicle.”

“I advised her to not physically harm me again and we were able to secure her in the back seat and close the door to my patrol car,” the female officer wrote.

Throughout the policer encounter, the commissioner made references to being disrespected by the officers, according to the report, and during the drive to the jail Thornton commented “about how much she had done for the police officers in this county,” and said that she wanted to speak with the police chief and sheriff.

Upon arriving at the jail Thornton reportedly continued to resist authority, and sheriff’s deputies had to forcibly remove her from the police car to get her inside.

In a statement to Classic City News after her arrest, Thornton said that “intoxication was not a factor” in the accident and that she was working with her attorney “to correct the DUI charge.”

13 Comments



sabrina_mynx
Mar 06, 2023

Disrespectful, smh, please. She's a cow, lying, drunk ass, violent cow. What if she would have killed someone & her main concern is respect? Exactly what does a lying, violent, drunk who's make-up looks like a clown deserve any respect at all? Kick her out of any position in the government or office. I wonder what else she has done we don't know? Does she have any access to government funds? Who paid for that alcohol that got her drunk? Company Pcard?

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Aunty Lib.
Mar 03, 2023

I would love to see and hear the body-cam video.

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kib568
Mar 02, 2023

Touch it, not tough it

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kib568
Mar 02, 2023

DAs office has NOTHING to do with this. Solicitor’s office does. I would lay off of felonies, too, when possible. That ensures that the case goes to State or Municipal court. No Gonzales paws tough it that way.

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