Switz City woman arrested after harassing Worthington store employees for four days in a row

Terasitta Thompson

A Switz City woman accused of harassing employees at a store in Worthington for four days in a row, and refusing to leave store property, was arrested and booked in to jail on a preliminary charge of public intoxication.

Terasitta Eleanor Joy Thompson, 37, was sitting in a white 2000 Buick passenger car parked on the north side of the Dollar General Store, talking on her phone, with the car’s engine running, when Deputy Marshal James T. Harrington of the Worthington Police Department arrived around 9 p.m. on Thursday, June 7.

Officer Harrington was on duty when he received a report about a woman who had harassed Dollar General store employees several times throughout the week, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

The store manager said she came in the store again on Thursday and caused a disturbance by yelling at the manager, the assistant manager and another employee.

Harrington said the manager told him Thompson appeared to be impaired, was having trouble maintaining her balance and refused to leave. The store wanted Thompson removed from the property. They also said she had discarded a bag of her clothing behind the store.

Harrington informed Thompson she had been banned from store property and asked to leave, and that he had received a complaint, which she disputed. He also returned the discarded bag of clothing to her. She allegedly told him the clothing was infested with bedbugs.

A records check revealed Thompson had a valid operator’s license and did not have any outstanding warrants, but Harrington reported her speech seemed slurred, her eyes watery, red and glassy with dilated pupils.

Thompson was advised to contact someone who could remove her car and transport her to a different location.

Harrington then gave her some time to contact someone but when he returned to speak with her, he learned she had called a family member in Ohio, not anyone in the local area. He gave her another opportunity but she failed to take advantage of it.

Thompson was then asked to exit her car for standard field sobriety tests. Harrington said she failed the field tests but passed a portable breath test.

In the details of a probable cause affidavit prepared by Harrington, he said he then learned she had ingested a Schedule IV controlled substance.

Her car was towed and Thompson was transported to the Greene County Sheriff’s Department where she allegedly failed another round of field sobriety testing but agreed to a chemical test at Greene County General Hospital.

Thompson’s bond was set at $500 surety with ten percent allowed. She posted $50 cash and was released on Friday, June 8.

She is scheduled to appear in Greene Superior Court for an initial hearing on July 2 when she will be formally charged with public intoxication, a Class B misdemeanor.