Kestner Not Able To Elude Law Enforcement



A Woodbury man who tried to blaze a trail pursuing law officers could not follow was arrested earlier this month on DUI and other charges.

According to the report filed by Woodbury Police Patrolman John Fesmire, a local BOLO was issued on Sept. 5 for a beige 2003 Chevy Trailblazer that had struck a tree at 895 Bradyville Road, left the scene of the accident, and was inbound to the city of Woodbury and the address of 124 Meadowbrook Drive.

"Earlier in the shift, I had responded with Officer (Brent) Brock to 124 Meadowbrook Drive in reference to an assault between Jonathan Kestner (who lives at 124 Meadowbrook Drive) and Christopher Hoover (who lives at 895 Bradyville Road)," Fesmire's report states.

"During the call it was obvious that Kestner was extremely intoxicated. He had the odor of alcoholic beverages about his person, was loud, had a hard time moving from one topic of conversation to the next, and even stated that he was drunk. This was recorded in report #0904102355 by Officer Brock.

"Upon hearing the BOLO, I radioed Brock to ask him if a beige Trailblazer was in the driveway at 124 Meadowbrook when we were there earlier. Officer Brock confirmed that it was.

"I alerted all responding units that the driver would be intoxicated. I proceeded towards West Adams Street to intercept the vehicle. I turned right onto W. Adams from Lehman Street. As I did, the vehicle passed by me and I noticed that one of the Sheriff Department's black Ford Explorers was behind it trying to catch up. It was Detective Matt Goney in this Explorer.

"I turned around once the Explorer passed by me. Upon turning around, I noticed that the Trailblazer had put a considerable amount of distance between it and my patrol vehicle, suggesting that the driver sped up in an attempt to elude law enforcement. Once I got to the (Woodbury) grammar school, Detective Goney radioed that the vehicle had wrecked on W. Adams St. As he radioed this, I could see the light beams from the headlights spin.

As I arrived on scene, Detective Goney had exited his vehicle, drew his service weapon, and gave loud, verbal commands to the driver. He extracted the driver from the vehicle and I placed him in cuffs. Goney stated that Kestner had attempted to drive the vehicle out of the ditch which would have forced a head on collision with Detective Goney's vehicle. As I tried to escort Kestner to my patrol unit, he attempted to maintain his position. I had to physical force him to move.

"Officer Brock, Detective (James) Davis, along with Deputies (Matt) Avera, (Tommy) Barker and (Reed) Bryson arrived on scene. I put Kestner in the rear of my patrol vehicle for the time being. Kestner still had the alcohol odor about him, he was unable to stand steady on his own, and was extremely belligerent.

"He kept saying that he was scared of Chris Hoover and for his own family's sake. His tone of voice suggested that if he were to be uncuffed, he may become assaultive towards officers on the scene. Given Kestner's inability to stand unaided, along with his resistant and combative nature, SFSTs (Standardized Field Sobriety Tests) were not only virtually impossible but were also unsafe.

"Due to Kester's admission earlier that he was drunk along with the observations I had made of Kestner's physical ability, I charged him with DUI. I read Kestner the implied consent form, but Kestner talked over me during the entirety of it. When I asked him to submit to a blood test at the ER, he refused. I transported him to the Sheriff's Department for booking.

While at the jail, Kestner was aggressive and belligerent to the point the jail staff administered OC (pepper) spray."

Kestner was also charged with violation of the implied consent law. He is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 12 to answer these two charges, and a charge of reckless endangerment from the earlier Sept. 5 incident.