The sheriff report filed when an elected City official was arrested around midnight on Friday, July 3, details just how impaired he was behind the wheel of his vehicle.

Over the Fourth of July weekend, Richmond City Commissioner Jim Newby was arrested by a Madison County Sheriff who conducted a traffic stop after observing Newby roll through a stop sign at the intersection of Water and South Collins streets in the County.

In the report, Sheriff Deputy Lukas Gabbard detailed how Newby "struggled to communicate, having slurred speech, and incomplete sentences." The report also said Newby admitted to having had "four or five beers at Madison Gardens." Ultimately, Newby's blood alcohol level was tested and found to be at 0.098%, meaning he was legally intoxicated at the time of the traffic stop.

The report also included the difficulty Newby had following Gabbard's instructions to him to walk in a straight line. Instead, Newby was observed using his arms to balance himself, but could not, so he "swayed and hopped". The sheriff said Newby did not seem able to hold himself up.

There is a moment of confusion in the report where Gabbard asks if Newby has wet himself. Gabbard wrote that prior to giving Newby the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, Newby's trousers were dry. The HGN test measures the involuntary jerking of one’s eye when it gazes to the side. The jerking is exaggerated if excessive alcohol amounts have been consumed. Gabbard wrote that as the Commissioner was undergoing the test, Newby's pants grew wet all the way down to his shoes. "Did you just urinate?" Gabbard asked Newby in the report. The Commissioner responded he'd spilled a drink on himself earlier that evening.

Newby was arrested at that point. He refused further tests and called an attorney, according to the citation. Gabbard asked Newby's sober passenger to drive Newby's Toyota Corolla home so it would not need to be towed. Gabbard wrote he told the passenger that he wished she'd been behind the wheel to begin with and that she agreed with him.

Newby has not made an official public statement about his arrest, but has posted on his Facebook page that he makes no excuses for his behavior.