Drunken Driving Suspect Had a Small, Unrestrained Child Onboard

A veteran Wauwatosa police officer could hardly believe what he was seeing when a driver tailgated him Monday night and passed him on the right with a small child standing up in the back seat.

When the officer pulled the man over, he showed all the signs of being drunk.

Granted, the officer was driving an unmarked squad, but he found the circumstances unusual and unsettling.

At 8:24 p.m., Tosa police dispatchers broadcast that a caller had reported a reckless driver at 72nd and Lloyd streets, with a description of the vehicle as a red SUV and its license plate number.

A bit later, on North Avenue in the 9200 block, a Tosa patrol officer in an unmarked car saw a vehicle coming up fast behind him and tailgating his squad after it caught up.

The driver of the red SUV passed the officer on the right, and they both came to a halt at a red light at Menomonee River Parkway. The officer saw a small girl standing up in the back seat.

He stopped the Chevy Blazer in the 10000 block of North and saw that the girl was still standing in the back seat and there was no child seat, as required by law.

The driver displayed all the typical signs – slurred speech, glassy, bloodshot eyes and a strong smell of alcohol about him. He failed field sobriety tests badly, and registered a .15 blood alcohol concentration on a breath test for evidence of intoxication.

The man refused to make a statement and was arrested on a state criminal charge of operating while intoxicated with a passenger under 16 years old with a blood alcohol content equal to or greater than .15. It was the suspect's first OWI offense, which is normally a municipal citation, but because of the presence of a child and the level of alcohol, a state criminal charge is imposed.

The man was also cited for operating a vehicle with a child younger than 4 years old not in a child safety seat, indicating the tender age of the child, as well as operating without a license.

During the booking procedure, officers said, the suspect asked several times whether he was under arrest and "if we could cut him a break." Officers said the suspect was cooperative but was laughing and joking, and, one officer wrote, "I don't believe (he) understood the seriousness of his arrest."

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