3 Multiple-Offense Drunken Drivers Arrested in Wauwatosa

Three drunken drivers, all women, were hauled in by the Wauwatosa police over the weekend, and all had previous OWI convictions on record.

Two were stopped for their second time and the other her third.

A lot of wine and over the line

At 11:10 p.m. Saturday, a 45-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested for her third drunken driving offense after a traffic stop for speeding in the 7500 block of West Center Street.

An officer monitoring speed on Center at North 72nd Street clocked her on radar doing 44 mph in the 30 mph zone and pulled her over. Upon speaking to her, the officer immediately smelled a strong odor of alcohol, and the woman’s eyes were glassy and her speech slurred.

Next to her on the passenger seat was a nearly empty 1.5-liter bottle of Livingston Cellars Pinot Grigio wine. A computer check showed previous OWI convictions in 1989 and 2003.

The woman refused to take a field sobriety test and was arrested and taken to the police station, where she also refused a voluntary blood draw. She was taken to Wisconsin Heart Hospital for a forced draw.

Being unable to contact anyone to pick her up, she was kept locked up for a 12-hour sobriety hold.

We're lucky it was only a mailbox

At 1:36 a.m. Saturday, a 27-year-old New Berlin woman was arrested for her second drunken driving offense and for hit and run after a caller told police someone had just crashed over a mailbox in the 2200 block of North 115th Street and then driven off.

A second caller reported a car with a tire squealing on the pavement on West North Avenue at North 105th Street.

An officer found the driver stopped a block away on 106th Street, standing and looking at the front passenger side of her car. Her right front wheel was damaged and unsteerable, and she said she was waiting for a ride.

The officer asked her what she had hit, and she said, “I have no idea. A mailbox?” She admitted she had been drinking at a bar with a friend, and when asked if she would consent to a field sobriety test, she said, “I don’t need to. I’m drunk.”

She did take the test after all, but performed poorly and the officer ultimately halted it for fear she would fall and injure herself. She later blew a .13 blood alcohol concentration on an evidentiary breath test.

Yes, you should be nervous

At 1:31 a.m. Friday, a 43-year-old West Allis woman was arrested for drunken driving, second offense, after a patrol officer saw her speeding and driving erratically on Blue Mound Road.

He followed, and eventually the woman made a U-turn and stopped of her own accord. She admitted to drinking two glasses of wine and said she did not feel she was impaired, but had been driving poorly because she saw the squad car following and it made her nervous.

However, when the officer asked her to step out of her car, she could barely stand. She could not complete most of the steps of a field sobriety test for lack of balance. She blew a blood alcohol concentration of .22 on a breath test.

The woman had been convicted of operating while intoxicated in 2010.