Nick Ochsner

1 week ago | wbtv.com | Nick Ochsner |Cassidy Johncox

WEST JEFFERSON, N.C. (WBTV) – The social media accounts and website for the Ashe County Sheriff’s Office were taken down this week after footage of a deadly traffic stop was made public, officials confirmed Wednesday. Ashe County Sheriff Phil Howell confirmed to WBTV on Wednesday, May 7 that the office’s digital platforms had been made private.

1 week ago | wbtv.com | Nick Ochsner

WEST JEFFERSON, N.C. (WBTV) – Never-before-seen video shows the moments of a traffic stop that led to a man dying. Stuart Chad Mast died September 13, 2024 after being pulled over and arrested by deputies with the Ashe County Sheriff’s Office. An autopsy ruled Mast’s death a homicide; the medical examiner ruled he died by asphyxiation. Outside of the autopsy, details of what led to Mast’s arrest remained sparse.

1 week ago | wbtv.com | Nick Ochsner

JEFFERSON, N.C. (WBTV) — An Ashe County grand jury on Friday declined to bring charges against deputies involved in a deadly arrest of a man in September 2024. Watauga County District Attorney Seth Banks, who was assigned to review the case outside of his prosecutorial district, announced the grand jury’s decision in a press release on Friday, May 2. Deputies with the Ashe County Sheriff’s Office stopped Stuart Chad Mast on Sept. 13, 2024 for an expired tag.

1 month ago | wbtv.com | Nick Ochsner

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - A judge ordered Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to pay WBTV more than $66,000 after the district was found to have withheld hundreds of pages of data documenting reports of sexual violence. WBTV sued CMS seeking records related to the district’s handling of reported rapes and sexual assaults. Prior to the station’s lawsuit, CMS maintained it recorded just two reports of rape across all of its campuses over a 10-year period.

1 month ago | wbtv.com | Nick Ochsner

GASTONIA, N.C. (WBTV) - Three employees at the Gaston County Jail -- a sergeant, sheriff’s deputy and detention officer -- were suspended after a violent incident in February 2024. WBTV’s Chief Investigative Reporter Nick Ochsner went to court to obtain video of the incident, which involves a man being booked into the jail. The man, who was being booked on charges of trespassing and resisting arrest, spoke with WBTV on the condition he not be identified, given the violent nature of the incident.