Saturday, May 18, 2013
The National Transportation Safety Board wants another lowering of the blood-alcohol standard for drunk driving. It stands at .08; the NTSB wants it at .05.
The National Transportation Safety Board wants the blood-alcohol threshold for drunk driving to be lowered to .05 from .08. Wisconsin followed the rest of the country from a .10 to .08 standard in 2003, under the threat of losing federal highway funds. The state had almost 29,000 DUI arrests in 2011, almost 10,000 fewer than in 2000 but still the sixth-highest per-capita amount in the country. And police regularly arrest people for driving with concentrations two and three times the current legal limit, and/or for multiple convictions. Will a lower limit make Wisconsin citizens safer in any way? Or is it simply an unnecessary government intrusion? Vote in our poll and comment below. Related polls:
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
With 14 drivers stopped, the Greendale officers deployed as part of a task force to catch—and deter—drunken drivers on St. Patrick's Day weekend were busy.
The Greendale Police Department made two arrests for suspicion of drunken driving during a major deployment of force over St. Patrick's Day weekend, according to information released Monday. Greendale police, participating with many metro area municipal police departments plus the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department and the State Patrol, made 14 traffic stops and handed out three citations and 11 warnings for all types of violations Saturday and Sunday. Greendale had two arrests before the start of the deployment, one a third offense and the other a first-offense causing injury. Metro-wide, there were 49 OWI arrests among 574 stops, with 423 citations doled out and 205 warnings issued. Law enforcement officers incidentally rounded up 12 …
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Sunday's St. Patrick's Day is among the biggest binge drinking events of the year in Wisconsin. Is it the biggest?
Almost any national ranking of alcohol consumption finds Wisconsin near the top. Forbes Magazine named Milwaukee “America’s Drunkest City” in 2006. A story from 24/7 Wall St. ranked the state No. 6 among beer-drinking states in 2011, citing statistics that say Wisconsin has more binge drinkers and heavy drinkers than any other. And at least one study suggests Wisconsin has the most drunk drivers in the nation. In a state that loves to find an excuse to lift a glass, which special event inspires the most drinking to excess? Vote in our poll and discuss the issue in our Comment stream.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Greendale police are called to a road rage incident and they say the aggressor is driving under the influence of drugs.
A 47-year-old Greenfield man with a bad case of road rage is accused of driving through Greendale with drugs in his system. Todd J. Gerhard was charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court Friday with one count of fourth offense operating while intoxicated. If convicted, he faces up to one year in jail and $2,000 in fines. According to the criminal complaint: On March 18, a woman called the Greendale Police Department after she was involved in a road rage incident with Gerhard. She told police Gerhard honked his horn at her, then got out of his car and yelled before getting back into his car, driving over the median and leaving the scene. He was pulled over near Parkview Road and South 76th Street. Gerhard failed field sobriety tests and was …
Sunday, December 9, 2012
An Oak Creek man arrested for drunk driving last week has six prior convictions, but only one since 1996. How much should that time span factor into what punishment he faces now, if at all?
Should the time between drunk driving arrests have an impact on how those people are handled in the courts? An Oak Creek man was arrested for operating while intoxicated last week near Mitchell International Airport. The 51-year-old man has six prior convictions, but only one in the last 16 years. If a person’s second OWI comes at least 10 years after the first, then it is generally treated like a “first offense” in Wisconsin. But if it happens a third time — no matter when any of them occurred — then the person is considered to have two first-offense convictions and a third-offense conviction. In the case of the Oak Creek man, he was given a two-year prison sentence for his sixth offense, in 2002, but it was “stayed,” essentially turning …
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
A man in apparent need of a GPS is accused of his fourth drunk driving charge and tells a police officer he's upset because he just found out his wife is cheating on him.
A 45-year-old Greendale man is accused of driving drunk through Muskego while he was on his way to West Bend because he was upset his wife was cheating on him. Jose R. Rodriguez was charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court Monday with one count of fourth offense operating while intoxicated within a five year period, one count of failing to install an ignition interlock device and one count of operating a motor vehicle after revocation of his license. If convicted, he faces up to 4 ½ years in prison and $13,500 in fines. According to the criminal complaint: At 1:43 a.m. Sunday, a woman who was with 10 other people in the back of a limousine saw Rodriguez travelling southbound on Racine Avenue when he drove over the roundabout, so she …
Thursday, November 29, 2012
The men collided with each other the night before Thanksgiving and both told police they had been drinking.
Two drivers were arrested for drunken driving after one car struck the other in Greendale the night before Thanksgiving. According to police records, on Nov. 21: A 22-year-old Greendale man driving a Buick was making a left turn at the intersection of 60th Street and Grange Avenue when an Audi driven by 52-year-old Fox Point man struck his car. Both men admitted to police they had been drinking that night. The Greendale man, who had a blood alcohol content of 0.10, said he was coming from his work at Southridge Applebees. The Fox Point man was coming from his girlfriend's house and refused to do breathalyzer test.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Departments participating in a Thanksgiving drunken driving task force will gather Wednesday night in public display of their intentions.
- PUBLIC SAFETY
- Jim Price
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Tuesday, November 20, 2012
If you want to see some police officers whom you really don't want to meet under unfortunate circumstances over the Thanksgiving weekend, just drive by the Hales Corners Park and Ride at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. It's intended to be a sobering experience. Area police departments that participate in the Southeast Wisconsin High-Visibility Enforcement OWI Task Force plan to be out in force to enforce over the holiday, and they want you to know it. In the hope that a very public display of an array of law enforcement power aimed at catching drunken drivers will deter some people from thinking about driving after drinking in the first place, the departments will hold public roll calls timed to remind everyone just before festivities begin. It's …
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Suspect, 43, is charged with 4th OWI after he gets stopped with alcohol in his system.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Joe Petrie
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Wednesday, October 24, 2012
A Franklin man is charged with felony drunk driving after police say he drove through Greendale with alcohol in his system. Tomislav Sunjic, 43, was charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court Tuesday with one count of fourth offense operating while intoxicated within five years and one count of operating a motor vehicle with a prohibted alcohol concentration. If convicted, he faces up to six years in prison and $20,000 in fines. According to the criminal complaint: At 7:03 p.m. Sunday, a Greendale police officer spotted Sunjic speeding in an SUV on West Loomis Road. The officer followed the SUV, then saw it go through a yellow light, then a red light, so the officer decided to pull the vehicle over. The SUV then pulled into a parking lot …
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Franklin man becomes argumentative towards a Greendale police officer after he fails field sobriety tests.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Joe Petrie
-
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
A 52-year-old Franklin man is facing his third drunken driving charge after he was caught allegedly speeding through Greendale in August. Darren D. Host was charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court Tuesday with one count of third offense operating while intoxicated. If convicted, he faces up to one years in county jail and $2,000 in fines. According to the criminal complaint: On Aug. 22, a Greendale police officer spotted Host in the 5900 block of West Loomis Road doing 59 miles per hour in a 45 miles per hour speed zone. The officer pulled him over and could smell alcohol coming from inside the car. Host failed several field sobriety tests, then became argumentative and uncooperative with the officer, so he was placed under arrest. He …
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5900 W Loomis Rd, Greendale, WI
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$$andSense
9:14 pm on Wednesday, May 22, 2013
@me Let us just agree that there may be a little more accountability for every law introduced in the future. Hmmm? more ›