Troopers texted about drivers

RALEIGH -- Text messages released by the N.C. Highway Patrol on Tuesday confirm that two troopers communicated about Gina Tessener, a Raleigh woman who was wrongfully arrested for drunken driving in Wilmington last month.

But the messages, peppered with profanity, do not show the troopers colluded to make a subsequent traffic stop of Tessener's lawyer husband.

"This woman refused all roadside testing, and blew .00," the arresting officer, Senior Trooper Edward S. Wyrick, texted about Tessener at 12:03 a.m. June 22. "Her husband is a trial lawyer and told me I should be ashamed of myself."

The recipient of the message, Trooper Andrew M. Smith, then responded: "Hahahaha f--- her and f--- him. She say how much she'd had to drink?"

Wyrick wrote back: "She said 1 drink at 7pm."

"F--- her," Smith responded.

About 15 minutes later, Smith pulled over Hoyt Tessener, Gina's husband, as he followed Wyrick's patrol car to the New Hanover County jail in rural Castle Hayne.

The Tesseners could not be reached Tuesday night.

Wyrick and Smith, who were placed on desk duty last week pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation, also could not be reached.

Patrol spokesman 1st Sgt. Jeff Gordon declined to answer questions about the messages, citing the ongoing investigation.

Gordon released the text messages from the troopers' cellphones and their in-car computers on Tuesday evening in response to a public records request filed last week by The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer.

Gina Tessener, 51, was arrested shortly before midnight after Wyrick pulled over her Lexus GS, saying a headlamp was out. He then said he smelled alcohol on Tessener's breath.

Wearing a party dress and heels, the mother of three says she told the trooper she had not been drinking. But she didn't feel comfortable performing a roadside sobriety test, which often requires standing on one foot, leaning back your head and touching your nose.

She also declined to blow into a portable device that detects alcohol, invoking her right under state law to take a more sophisticated breath test at the nearby Wrightsville Beach police station with a witness present.

After Tessener refused to take the roadside tests, the trooper arrested her and placed her in handcuffs. Wyrick's written report of the incident describes her as "polite."

Tessener's husband later met her at the nearby police station, where she twice blew a 0.00 reading for alcohol. Security camera footage from the station's booking room shows the men then had a brief exchange of heated words.

Unfamiliar with the area, Hoyt Tessener said in an interview last week he agreed to follow Wyrick to the jail so that his wife could appear before a magistrate.

Shortly after crossing the bridge back into Wilmington, Tessener said that Wyrick hit the gas, as if trying to entice the lawyer to exceed the speed limit to keep up. A second trooper then pulled behind Tessener and turned on his blue lights.

As he stopped, Tessener said, he saw the Wyrick's cruiser pull off. He said he had no idea where his handcuffed wife was being taken.

Tessener said the trooper who pulled him asked him to perform a roadside sobriety test. When he asked the trooper's name, he said the trooper shined a flashlight in his eyes so he could not read the tag on his shirt. He was soon released without charge.

The patrol later identified Smith as the trooper who made that stop.

The Tesseners have suggested the two troopers communicated to orchestrate the second traffic stop. In his arrest report, Wyrick denied that.

The records provided by the patrol Tuesday show that at 12:31 a.m. - after Hoyt Tessener was released - Smith sent Wyrick an instant message, using the laptop computers mounted in their cars.

"TELL HIM IF HE WANTS TO COP AN ATTITUDE TO FEEL FREE AND COME BACK AND ILL STROKE HIM THAT SPEED."

Wyrick responded: "HOW FAST"

Smith messaged back: "58"

Gina Tessener was later released, the drunken driving charge against her dropped for lack of evidence.