BUCYRUS — The owner of the West Side Drive Thru in Galion testified in the Jason Tupps trial on Wednesday in Crawford County Common Pleas Court.
Tupps is accused of holding a motorist at gunpoint in July 2018 and of threatening to shoot her. The incident led to multiple charges against Tupps including improper handling of a firearm, abduction, driving under the influence of alcohol, using weapons while intoxicated, aggravated menacing, and assured clear distance.
Jason Matthew Young has owned West Side Drive Thru for 20 years. He testified that he grew up with Tupps and they had been friends.
Prosecutor Margaret Tomaro asked Young if he had ever discussed alcohol use with him. Young testified that Tupps had asked him if he could get married to his fiancé at his home and that Tupps asked him not to tell his fiancé of his alcohol use. Young denied Tupps’ request to host his wedding because he felt he and his wife were put in an awkward position.
Young said that he was working the drive thru when Tupps came through on July 9, 2018 and purchased two Buzz Balls.
“What exactly is a Buzz Ball?” Tomaro asked.
“It’s a shot of liquor that gets you intoxicated quicker than drinking,” Young said.
Young told the jury that the average beer is 4.2% alcohol, but a Buzz Ball was 20% alcohol at that time. Young told the jury that about a year ago the manufacturer reduced the alcohol content to 15%.
Tomaro played a video taken from the drive thru surveillance cameras. Young acknowledged that he provided a copy of the video to law enforcement sometime after the incident. The video shows Tupps in uniform purchasing the alcohol at 5:11 p.m. on that day.
On cross examination, Tupps’ attorney, James Mayer had Young explain that he runs a drive thru and convenience store, not a state liquor store. Young agreed with Mayer that he could not state the exact date of when the alcohol content was changed by the manufacturer. However, still pictures taken from the video clearly show the alcohol content at 20%.
Lifetime Galion resident Dominic Marino, a neighbor of Hickman’s uncle, testified that he was in his front yard when he saw what the thought was a car chase unfolding in front on him.
Although Marino did not know at the time, he was watching Tupps. He said he knew Tupps from grade school and that they had friends in common.
Marino said he was in his front yard when he saw a white car driving not too fast and a black SUV chasing it.
“I thought it was a crazy husband/boyfriend situation or something,” Marino said.
Marino testified that the black SUV would speed up on the white car and then back off repeatedly. He said he saw the white car turning and heard the black SUV’s brakes screeching as it turned following the white car.
Marino said he saw nothing further and went to his backyard and was talking to his neighbor when he heard police sirens. When the sirens stopped, he knew it had to be in the area where he saw the chase. He got in his car and went to the scene to see if he could be of assistance.
Marino said he stood across the street at first but then walked up and saw Tupps. He shook Tupps’ hand, then spoke to Galion police officers about what he had seen.
On cross examination, Mayer confirmed that Marino had seen no collision but only heard tires screeching as the black SUV turned.
Galion Police Detective Marc Rodriguez testified that he gathered evidence in the case but was not on scene the night of the incident. Rodriguez’s role was to establish the timeline of Tupps’ activities prior to the altercation with the victim, Abbey Hickman.
Rodriguez confirmed lab testing on the white substance was negative for controlled substances and established that Tupps had been in Bucyrus until around 4 p.m., in Marion between 4:28-4:33 p.m., in Galion at 5 p.m., in Mansfield at 6:30 p.m. and back to Galion between 6:58-7 p.m.
Cell phone records were subpoenaed and analyzed by the Ohio State Highway Patrol in Columbus. Alexander Nichols, a Public Safety Intelligence Analyst with the Patrol verified that he composed the timeline according to cell phone tower pings. The analysis was requested by Rodriguez.
Crawford County Sherriff’s deputy Chris Hulsmeyer testified that he heard the dispatch call on his radio and because there was a person being held at gunpoint he headed to the scene. Hulsmeyer said he was one of the last officers to arrive but was asked to secure Tupps’ gun and holster belt in his car and transport them to the department.
On cross examination, Hulsmeyer told the jury he was just at the scene as a support to officers. He told the jury that Tupps, as a deputy, though a corrections officer, had the power to arrest. Hulsmeyer said that he was trained not to pull his gun unless he intended to use it but that he had pulled a gun before and not fired it. He agreed with Mayer that the hope in pulling a gun is to stop whatever action is occurring.
The trial will continue in Common Pleas Court on Thursday at 9 a.m.