Intoxicated Driver Flees to Mall After Busting Up His Car

After smashing into a curb hard enough to rip a wheel off his car, a drunken driver careened into the parking lot of Mayfair Mall, left the crippled car and tried to disappear into the mall crowd Friday night.

At 9:40 p.m., police responded to a report from the Mayfair security office of a possibly intoxicated driver parking a badly damaged car at the mall, and a short time later they arrested a 36-year-old Wauwatosa man for drunken driving, first offense.

A mall security officer patroling the parking lot had heard a loud crash in the area of North Mayfair Road and West North Avenue. He then saw a badly damaged black Lexus sedan enter the parking lot in a very wide, high-speed turn. When the security officer approached the driver to see if he was injured, the man got out of the car and ran away toward the mall while talking on a cell phone.

The security officer called his office and gave a quick description of events and the driver, and the man was tracked as the police were alerted. When police officers stopped him, he was unsteady on his feet and slurring his words.

Questioned, he said he had hit a curb and parked his car to walk home. Asked if he had had anything to drink, he admitted he had been drinking beer all day at a charity golf outing.

When police examined his car, they found that the left front wheel was broken off the axle and wedged into the wheel well. Dragging its undercarriage, it had gouged the pavement in the parking lot.

The man failed a field sobriety test and refused a breath test. He was taken to Wisconsin Heart Hospital for a blood draw.