Two Reckless 2nd Offenses Among OWI Arrests on Holiday Weekends

Among four arrests on suspicion of drunken driving over the long Christmas and New Year's weekends were two second-offense citations, both involving extremely reckless behavior behind the wheel.

The is little doubt that more reports will be forthcoming when Wauwatosa police have completed a roundup of Monday night and Tuesday morning stops during an OWI Task Force deployment.

According to the police reports:

At 1:49 a.m. Dec. 23, a 29-year-old West Allis man was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, second offense, after a traffic stop for speeding and other infractions.

The man drove southbound past a parked patrol officer in the 1700 block of Wauwatosa Avenue at 50 mph. The officer followed him, almost three blocks behind, through the Village and onto State Street, then saw him run another red light as he turned south onto 68th Street.

The officer was finally was able to catch up to the suspect at Wisconsin Avenue, where he pulled him over after seeing him toss a beer can out his door. The car was littered with more beer cans, both full and empty, and the man reeked of alcohol.

He tried giving a false name and had a fake Wisconsin ID but was soon found out through fingerprint evidence. The arresting officer learned that the suspect's license was revoked, he had three open warrants for his arrest, and had a prior OWI conviction in 2007.

He could not complete all the steps of a sobriety test and blew a .20 blood alcohol concentration on a breath test.

Impaired woman drives into oncoming traffic

At 10:46 p.m. Dec. 24, a 51-year-old Wauwatosa woman was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, second offense, after multiple citizens called about her extremely dangerous driving.

She was first reported to be stopped in a southbound traffic lane in the 2200 block of North Mayfair Road, and then three 911 calls came in that she had resumed driving south into oncoming traffic in the northbound lanes.

One of the 911 callers told officers she had to veer sharply into a parking lot to avoid a head-on collision with the suspect.

Police found her in her SUV, stopped in the parking lot of Wheaton Franciscan Health Care, 201 S. Mayfair Rd., where she suddenly put her vehicle in gear as if to pull away when an officer turned on his emergency lights. The officer hit his siren and the woman stopped.

She smelled strongly of vomit, the officer said, and she did not know where she was. She told the officer she was going to the Walgreens on Mayfair – some two miles behind her at that point. She said she was driving in oncoming lanes because she was confused by construction in the area.

The officer noted that while there has been road construction and there are still traffic cones marking utility work in the median, all traffic lanes were by then open in both directions.

The woman could barely perform the steps of a field sobriety test, lost her balance repeatedly, and after being taken to the police station, blew a .15 blood alcohol concentration on a breath test. She was issued a citation for reckless driving/endangering safety as well as OWI.

Resident reports unwelcome visitors

At 2:10 a.m. Friday, a 30-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, first offense, and her 53-year-old companion, a Wauwatosa woman, was arrested for disorderly conduct during an investigation of suspicious circumstances at a home in the 1300 block of North 121st Street.

The resident and his girlfriend reported that they were in the bedroom when the doorbell began ringing and someone started pounding on the door and wouldn't stop. He saw by means of his video surveillance system that it was a former girlfriend and her younger companion, whom he also knew.

Both appeared to police officers to be exceedingly drunk and were uncooperative and near incapacitated.

After determining that the younger woman had been driving the car, she was arrested for OWI. She refused to perform a field sobriety test or to provide a breath sample. She was taken to a hospital for a mandatory blood draw, which she resisted.

The older woman was arrested for disorderly conduct both for her disturbance of the couple’s peace and because when police arrived, they found her squatting in the yard with her pants down, urinating, and so drunk she was unable to pull her soaked pants back up. 

Smoke screen: Cigarette only briefly masks alcohol odor

At 12:05 a.m. Friday, a 29-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, first offense, after a patrol officer saw her run a red light at North 69th Street on West North Avenue.

When she was pulled over, the woman quickly lit up a cigarette, and the officer was unable to smell any intoxicants over the smoke. She said she had not been drinking and felt fine, but once she was outside the car and had finished her cigarette, the officer began to smell alcohol and noted that she spoke ramblingly and in a slurred voice.

She performed poorly on field sobriety tests and refused to provide breath samples both at the scene and later at the police station, instead asking for a lawyer. A mandatory blood sample was taken over her protests.