Car lot, wrecker service owner claims arrest was bogus, payback

An early morning chase Sunday with a constable sent a Williamsburg car lot and wrecker service owner to jail, but the owner claims the charges are bogus and payback for making a complaint about the constable.
Constable Jim Thornton charged Jerry L. Bunch, 56, of Williamsburg, with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, first-degree fleeing or evading police, first-degree assault, no insurance, careless driving, failure to wear a seatbelt and menacing.

Bunch is owner of Jerry’s Auto Sales and Jerry’s Towing Service.

“It’s a personal thing about the towing situation. It has been going on for a while,” Bunch claims.

The incident started about 12:41 a.m. after Thornton observed Bunch allegedly driving carelessly on Ky. 26 going from lane to lane and crossing the double yellow line, according to the arrest citation.
Thornton stopped the 1989 Chevy pick-up truck on Brown’s Creek Road.

“I went up to the window and asked him for his driver’s license and insurance. Then he just opened the door and tried to get out,” Thornton said. “When he got out, he fell to the ground, and I smelled the strong smell of alcohol.”

Thornton said he then called for assistance from the Kentucky State Police because he has to get assistance making DUI arrests due to state statutes, or have a trooper or deputy that is certified make the actual arrest.

“He just got belligerent and wouldn’t listen to any of my commands, Thornton said. “He said, ‘I don’t have to stand here and listen to you. I don’t have to do anything you tell.’ I informed him that if he ran, it was a felony.”

Thornton said he went back to his cruiser in order to check Bunch’s driver’s license, and that Bunch got back in the truck and left.

Thornton resumed the pursuit, and chased Bunch about one mile to his home.
Bunch passed up his own drive-way, went up an embankment, then put the truck in reverse and rammed Thornton’s cruiser causing damage to the front of the vehicle, Thornton said.

Thornton said Bunch went inside his house, barricaded himself inside and let his German shepherd out, apparently in an effort to keep him from approaching the house.

About two minutes later, Bunch came out of the house and allegedly started threatening Thornton, who was inside his cruiser at that point to get away from the dog, Thornton said.

“I had to mace the dog to get it away from my window,” Thornton said. “After macing the dog, I got out and told him he was under arrest. He just put his hands on the car.”

Thornton said Bunch was allegedly irate cussing him and threatening him even after he got to the jail.
Thornton said Whitley County Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Elson was riding with him and witnessed the whole incident.

KSP Trooper Duane Foley assisted with the investigation.

Bunch’s account

“I guess what got this sparked, the other day I went to (Judge-Executive) Pat White’s office and put in a complaint about Jimmy running blue lights to get to wrecks for personal gain,” Bunch said during a telephone interview Tuesday morning. “Once he got word of that, he set a personal vendetta to pull me over.”

Bunch agreed that when Thornton pulled him over, he asked to see his license and insurance.
Bunch said that he has a dog, which rides with him all the time, and the dog jumped out of the vehicle during the traffic stop.

At that point Thornton pulled his gun, and began threatening to kill the dog while the deputy, who was with Thornton began to mace it, Bunch said.

At this point, Thornton said he was going to call a state trooper since he wasn’t certified to make DUI arrests, Bunch said.

Bunch said that since he was about 300 feet from his driveway, he told Thornton he was going to take his dog home, and when the state trooper got there to just to come up.

“Before I pulled out, I asked if I was under arrest. They said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘I’m going to drive right on up here and take my dog home,” Bunch said. “When I started up my drive way, he rammed the back of my truck with his cruiser.”

At that point, Bunch said he went inside the house and tried to call the sheriff, who he couldn’t get a hold of, and when he came back outside, police were still macing his dog.

“I told them just to put me under arrest and take me to jail,” Bunch said. “It’s a political thing that involves the towing situation.”

Bunch said that Thornton’s brother owns a wrecker service, and he claims that Thornton has been using his position as constable to steer business to his brother’s service.

“It’s what he’s been doing and it cut into my financial living,” Bunch said.

During last month’s, Whitley County Fiscal Court meeting, a person in the audience made a similar complaint about Thornton, but didn’t state their name.

Bunch said that it wasn’t him.

Refusing Breathalyzer

Bunch’s arrest citation notes that he refused to take a Breathalyzer test.

Bunch admits that he didn’t take a Breathalyzer test, and said he has no regrets about that decision in hindsight.

Bunch said that once he got to jail, a state trooper, who he said was very nice, came up to him and asked him to take a Breathalyzer test.

“I said, ‘Sir, are you arresting me? Are you doing this arrest?’ and he said, ‘No,'” Bunch explained. “He didn’t see me driving anything, and I said I’m not going to blow into the Breathalyzer. Jimmy Thornton has not been to the academy and is not certified to do a DUI arrest.”

Bunch said the reason he didn’t take a Breathalyzer to prove he wasn’t drinking was that that things had gotten out of hand at that point.

“The only reason he (Thornton) was out on my road was just a personal thing where I went down there over the towing thing. He arrested me and wasn’t certified to do that. The other guy didn’t arrest me so I didn’t take it.”

Off wrecker rotation lists

Bunch claims that Thornton has used his influence to get him kicked off the wrecker rotation lists used by law enforcement agencies when a vehicle needs to be towed, and the owner doesn’t have a preference for a wrecker service.

He said he received notice from the state and Williamsburg police Monday that he was being removed from their lists.

Williamsburg Police Chief Wayne Bird said Tuesday morning that Bunch’s wrecker service has been taken off the city’s wrecker service rotation list until the charges are resolved.

Bird said that the city police department often tows vehicles, and vehicle owners don’t always have a choice in who does the towing.

He said that it’s not anything against Bunch personally, but that the city doesn’t really have much of a choice.

“Somebody under those kind of charges, we just can’t have them towing vehicles until it is resolved,” Bird noted.

Bunch said he thinks a fairer solution would have been to call him in and speak to him about the allegations, and to see if he had another driver that could handle the wrecker calls for police besides himself, which he said he does.