Crime & Safety

Witness Details Driver's Careening Course Before OWI Arrest

Woman on probation from earlier drunken driving arrest commits most major traffic violations within a matter of a few blocks into, through and beyond the Village.

A caller reported a suspected drunken driver, then followed and gave police a full description of the wild and dangerous maneuvers she witnessed as the woman careened through Tosa Village.

It would turn out that the driver, at the wheel of a full-sized GMAC SUV, was already on probation for causing injury by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle.

According to police reports:

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At 8:16 p.m. Monday, the 33-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested for drunken driving, second offense, and violating probation after the call came in that she was driving recklessly through the Village area.

The witness was following the woman southbound on Wauwatosa Avenue and said that her SUV had been veering into oncoming traffic, then ran a red light at Milwaukee Avenue.

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The caller said that after she waited for that light, she soon came across the suspected drunken driver again, this time stopped at a green light at Harmonee Avenue.

After drivers honked their horns, she proceeded down Wauwatosa Avenue and sailed through that intersection and into the Chancery parking lot beyond, hitting a curb and nearly striking the lot’s rear retaining wall.

Next, she pulled out onto West State Street, drove east to 70th Street, turned south there and performed a slow and clumsy three-point turn, partly on the railroad tracks.

Continuing her escapade, she turned back onto State, driving west completely in the eastbound lane, as other drivers honked and swerved to avoid her.

She finally pulled over of her own accord in the 7100 block, on the right side of the street, where officers shortly arrived. When asked if she had been drinking, she said yes – she had consumed a fifth of Hennessy cognac. Officers also found a 200 milliliter bottle of vodka on the floor in front of the driver’s seat, three-quarters empty.

The woman could barely stand, and although she willingly attempted field sobriety tests, the arresting officer halted them when she was unable to perform the steps.

Officers did not even attempt a breath test and took her for a mandatory blood sample.

On probation for her first OWI conviction in 2009, when she caused an injury, she was sent to the county jail.


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