DWI case quietly dropped against NJ assistant prosecutor

✅ NJ assistant prosecutor Bryashia Atchison-Henderson found intoxicated on ground

✅  Failed a sobriety test and vomited in patrol car during DUI arrest

✅ Despite arrest and charges, she remained on the job

EDGEWATER — An Essex County assistant prosecutor charged with DWI on the night of her birthday in July has made a deal to drop the charge.

Police found Bryashia Atchison-Henderson lying next to her Ford Explorer in a parking lot in March 2025, according to body cam footage posted by the YouTube channel Transparency Bodycam.

The former NBA cheerleader told officers, "I didn't realize I was this drunk," began to cry, and said she just wanted to go home and check on her son. The officer holding Atchison-Henderson to make sure she didn't fall said that by admitting she was drunk, he had to perform "some tests" on her.

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Failed sobriety test

The police officer performed a Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test, which measures involuntary eye jerking to determine sobriety. Atchison-Henderson failed the test, was handcuffed and placed in the back of a patrol vehicle. During the ride to police headquarters, she vomited in the car.

According to the affidavit obtained by Transparency Bodycam, Atchison-Henderson was unable to answer the Attorney General's Standard Statement for Motor Vehicle Operators due to her level of intoxication, which was considered a refusal. She was charged with operating under the influence and refusal to submit to a breathalyzer/chemical test and released to her brother.

New Jersey Globe was the first to report that Atchison-Henderson accepted the deal in which the DWI charge was dropped. She pleaded guilty to reckless driving and was sentenced to pay $340 in fines and court costs.

Atchison-Henderson continued on the job despite the charge.

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