Videos show Columbus officers' drunk driving arrests
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- After four Columbus Division of Police officers were arrested for OVI charges, new videos from their arrests have shed light on the developing cases against them.
NBC4 obtained body and dash camera footage from the Ohio State Highway Patrol of two officers' arrests. In total, the four officers currently within varying stages of court proceedings are as follows:
- Officer Robbie Whitlow, arrested by the Ohio State Highway Patrol on March 13
- Sgt. Melvin Romans, arrested by the Ohio State Highway Patrol on March 12
- Officer Tylor Nixon, arrested by Gahanna police on March 10
- Officer Trier Knieper, arrested by the Ohio State Highway Patrol on Jan. 3
CPD confirmed on Tuesday that Whitlow, Romans and Nixon are all without their guns and badges as of Tuesday evening, on either restricted duty or leave. However, Knieper has remained on active duty since her arrest.
The body camera footage from OSHP showed both Romans and Whitlow's arrests, as well as the Columbus officers' interactions with highway troopers. When a trooper pulled over Romans, the video showed him stopped in the middle of an intersection. Romans drove further to pull over on the side of the road, where he denied to the trooper that he had anything to drink.
See body camera footage from Romans' arrest in the video player below.
The trooper then asked Romans to take a field sobriety test, and the CPD sergeant agreed. After following a pen with his eyes, walking in a straight line and standing on one leg, the trooper arrested Romans. The sergeant had previously been named the Columbus Officer of the Year in 2022, according to a Central Ohio Crime Stoppers' Facebook post.
See body camera footage from Whitlow's arrest in the video player below.
When a trooper pulled Whitlow over, the Columbus officer told him that he was on his way home and had a few drinks. Bodycam video showed the trooper asked him to do a field sobriety test, and Whitlow refused, resulting in the trooper arresting him.
Nixon, another officer arrested on an OVI charge in the span of a week, also faces a felony case with a charge of improperly handling a firearm. Body camera footage from the Gahanna Division of Police showed he agreed to a field sobriety test before being arrested.
The March arrests came simultaneously as CPD launched its new "DUI Interceptor," a mobile breathalyzer van that the agency said would get rid of the need to take an impaired driver to a police facility for testing. A caption on the side of the van reads "Going out tonight? So are we."
Knieper, arrested months prior to the other three officers, has since contested the OVI, speeding and street racing charges against her in Franklin County Municipal Court. Her defense attorney filed a motion to suppress, which is a strategic move to try and make her field sobriety test inadmissible in court.