Five OWI Arrests Include a Hit and Run with Child in the Car

Two recent deployments of the High-Visibility OWI Task Force, on April 1 and again on Saturday and Sunday, netted five more drunken driving arrests on Wauwatosa streets – all first offenders, but one made the more serious by a collision and the presence of a child.

At 1:50 p.m. April 1, a 37-year-old Wauwatosa woman was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, first offense, after callers reported she had hit a parked car in the lot at the Pick ‘n Save store at 6950 W. State St. and left with a minor child in her car.

She was identified by her license plate and officers found her at her home a short time later. They were allowed in by a child, and found all together three children, the oldest 10, standing around the suspect’s bed trying to wake her.

The woman was groggy and incoherent, and as she slowly regained consciousness of her surroundings, became uncooperative and abusive toward officers.

While she had no prior OWI convictions, police requested state criminal charges on the offense because of the hit and run and operating while intoxicated with a child younger than 16 in the car.

She was also subject to immediate forfeiture of her driving privileges because she refused to submit to a chemical test of her blood.

Child Welfare was notified of dangerous and unsupervised condition of the children and was investigating.

Woman has vodka in plain view

At 9:16 p.m. April 1, a 70-year-old Wauwatosa woman was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, first offense, after a patrol officer saw her sitting still in traffic in the middle of Mayfair Road at Burleigh Street.

She had an open bottle of vodka on the seat next to her. The woman could not complete field sobriety tests, saying, “I can’t do this. I just want to go home.” She was taken for a mandatory blood draw.

Visitor to city arrested

At 8:34 p.m. April 1, a 55-year-old Phoenix, AZ, man was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, first offense, after he was stopped for speeding in the 1800 block of Swan Boulevard.

He had bloodshot, glassy eyes and smelled like alcohol, so he was asked to perform field sobriety tests, which he failed. He blew a .17 BAC.

Driver nearly hits squad car

At 12:02 a.m. Sunday, a 25-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, first offense, after he ran a red light on Blue Mound Road at North 68th Street, nearly striking a Wauwatosa squad car.

The patrol officer reported that just as he entered intersection, the suspect came through the light at 45 miles per hour and missed him by no more than 10 feet.

The officer pulled him over two blocks east on Blue Mound and could immediately smell alcohol when he spoke to the driver. The suspect failed sobriety tests and became highly uncooperative when he was told he was under arrest and was handcuffed. He refused to get into the back seat of the squad car and had to be put in by force.

Back at the station, he blew a .20 blood alcohol concentration on a breath test.

Another speeding driver

At 11:37 p.m. Saturday, a 32-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, first offense, after she was stopped for speeding on Blue Mound Road at Hawley Road.

A patrol officer estimated she was driving 45 to 50 miles per hour in the 30-mph zone. She failed sobriety tests and blew a .11 BAC.