NORWICH – An Oxford man who brought up the issue of race at his DWI felony trial in February appeared in court last week as his lawyer said his client was pulled over 38 times in 12 months and only issued two tickets.

Deliberating for a little over an hour on Feb. 18, a jury found 29-year-old Thomas Toomer II not guilty of felony driving while intoxicated, but guilty of driving while ability impaired, a misdemeanor. It was a ruling his attorney, Jeffrey G. Leibo of Syracuse, described as a victory for the defense following the verdict.

“The jury got to see that I was definitely not intoxicated. They saw me angry, but they didn’t believe I was intoxicated and that’s what matters,” said Toomer, who is an African American.

The anger the jury saw was shown in a one hour and 27-minute surveillance video of the Norwich Police Station’s booking room, where Toomer directed pleas, obscenities and accusations of racial bias toward the arresting officers.

Toomer was arrested May 7 along Park Street in Norwich and was traveling with a passenger so intoxicated police were unable to communicate with him and get his name. Toomer was arrested for DWI and taken to the Norwich Police Station for processing.

Chained to the floor and seated in a chair for most of the video, Toomer is seen insulting and begging with officers at different points to contact his attorney for more than 30 minutes. During that time, police are seen filing paper work, attempting to find his lawyer’s phone number and trying to explain Toomer’s rights.

The video takes place between 2 and 3:30 a.m., and during that time police placed three calls in an attempt to connect Toomer to the offices of his lawyer. In the video, Toomer refuses to acknowledge the calls because neither of his attorneys were available; however lawyers from their offices were contacted by phone and did speak with him.

Police asked Toomer a number of times in the video if he would consent to a breath test. Toomer refuses to answer the question without having a lawyer present and eventually police automatically entered a refusal into their paperwork in accordance with New York State law over his objection.

Also in the video, Toomer can be heard several times declaring he is not intoxicated, accusing officers of arresting him because he’s “black” and threatening to sue the police department.

All three officers called to testify in the case said Toomer appeared intoxicated, citing his slurred speech, odor and blood-shot eyes. However, when cross-examined by Leibo, two of the officers both noted that Toomer’s speech does not appear to be slurred in the surveillance video.