McKenzie Councilmember booked into Carroll County jail

MCKENZIE, Tenn. — A City of McKenzie councilmember is being charged following a traffic stop involving his wife.

📸: Jesse Townes (mckenzietn.org)

Documents filed in Carroll County General Sessions Court show that around 6:30 p.m. on April 15, a McKenzie Police officer conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle for a possible window tint violation.

The driver, later identified as Cheryl Oglesby-Townes, was stopped near Elm Street and Locust Street, where the officer demonstrated via a tint meter that her rear windows had a reading of 9%, lower than the legal limit of 35% window tint. Additionally, the front windows read at 29%.

The officer stated that after the tint reading, Oglesby-Townes was on the phone with a male, who was advising that the window tint was legal and could allegedly be heard by the officer cussing over the phone.

According to the officer’s statement, the male — later identified as Jessie Townes — arrived on scene soon after “highly irritated” and “continually cussed” at the officer, claiming the vehicle’s tint was legal.

The officer stated that he made several attempts to explain the situation, however the councilmember continued to cuss and yell at him. The officer stated that he also advised Mr. Townes to go back to his vehicle several times.

Mr. Townes was eventually advised to put his hands behind his back to be detained. The officer stated that Mr. Townes continuously resisted detainment, and struck the officer in the chest with his elbow as he was resisting.

According to the officer’s statement, he eventually gained compliance from Mr. Townes as additional units arrived on scene.

Mr. Townes was issued a citation on the charge of obstruction of service of legal writ or process. The citation advised that Mr. Townes had ten days to appear for booking at the Carroll County jail.

According to records available online, Councilmember Townes was booked into the Carroll County jail around 11:30 a.m. Thursday before later bonding out.

When asked for comment, McKenzie Mayor Ryan Griffin issued a brief response: “We don’t comment on ongoing investigations.”

We have reached out to the parties involved and will provide an update should additional information become available.

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