GRAND JUNCTION — Gesere Henry’s biggest mistake last fall wasn’t getting in his truck and ramming a Mesa County Sheriff’s deputy’s patrol car during an alcohol-fueled fracas outside Rum Bay, a judge said Thursday.

The 27-year-old father of four children kept on driving in his Ford F-150.

“You tried to run,” said District Judge Brian Flynn. “In doing so, you placed the entire community in danger.”

Henry, a Grand Junction resident, was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for his role in a brawl and brief cop pursuit near Rum Bay, 2993 North Ave., on Oct. 20, 2007.

Henry faced the possibility of many more years locked up after pleading guilty to felony menacing with a deadly weapon, criminal mischief, DUI and misdemeanor obstruction of a peace officer.

In a plea agreement, the District Attorney’s Office dismissed a host of charges including first-degree assault on a peace officer.

Henry was initially held on attempted murder charges following his Oct. 20 arrest. A sheriff’s deputy rammed Henry’s truck to stop it on 30 Road after speeding away from the bar.

Deputies were called to Rum Bay around 12:30 a.m. on a report of a fight involving up to 10 people in the bar’s parking lot.

Henry, accompanied by his brother Adrian Henry, drove away as officers arrived and struck a sheriff’s deputy’s patrol car — an arrest affidavit suggests a sheriff’s deputy had to jump out of the way to avoid Henry’s truck.

The affidavit said the Henry brothers were kicked out of the bar moments earlier for causing a disturbance.

Adrian Henry, however, told the judge on Thursday he was assaulted by Rum Bay’s bouncers. He claimed a crowd had followed them out and circled around the truck.
“We just decided to go home,” Adrian Henry said of the decision to speed away. “We made some bad choices.”

Henry’s blood-alcohol level that night registered at nearly three times the legal limit, while marijuana was also found in his system.

“I’ve learned a tremendous lesson,” Henry told the judge. “I need to make better choices in my life.”

Henry had two prior felony convictions, most recently for assault at age 18.

Attorneys on Thursday suggested Henry had been eligible for a probation sentence until this past March: Flynn issued an arrest warrant after Henry missed a court date.

When officers March 19 showed up at his home in Grand Junction to arrest him on the new warrant, Henry refused to come out of the house for roughly an hour.

The incident also earned him a new charge: misdemeanor obstruction of a peace officer.
Henry was recently rejected for placement in Mesa County’s Community Corrections program.

“I really have no choice but to send you to prison,” Flynn said.

Flynn ordered Henry to reimburse $6,495 to Mesa County’s Risk Management Department for damage to the deputy’s patrol car.

Reach Paul Shockley at pshockley@gjfreepress.com