CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – The drunk driving charge against Wausau Alderperson Sarah Watson shows, once again, that Wisconsin isn’t serious about OWI.
If you don’t know, Wisconsin is the only state in the country where a first-offense OWI is not a criminal charge. It’s a civil forfeiture. The driver can mail their fine, and not even make a court appearance. It’s no different than a speeding ticket.
A state where I used to live, Connecticut, has the strictest drunk driving law. If you fail a field sobriety test there, the police confiscate your driver’s license on the spot. You’ll take an Uber to court where you have to convince a judge to give you your license back. The process takes months.
The things that stand out in my mind about the Sarah Watson case are this: She wasn’t a little drunk. Her preliminary breath test was 0.269, three times the state’s 0.08 limit. The driver she rear-ended was hospitalized. He was released after being checked out, so the case doesn’t rise to the level of ‘causing injury’. If it did, the case would become a criminal matter. And, consider that the public almost didn’t know about this. She wasn’t arrested… so there’s no formal record. Watson probably thought she’d escaped public scrutiny – the incident happened in January – until the Wausau Pilot and Review found the record while reviewing the police department’s accident reports.
Some people may have some sympathy for alder Watson. Dozens of other first-offense drunk drivers simply pay the fine and no one knows. So, yes, there is, and should be, a higher standard for local leaders. She told the police on the scene that she’d been drinking “a ton”, so much that she crashed into another car. I assure you she would have been no more able to stop in time if I was walking my dog in her path, or if you were walking your grandchild. She put her desire to get home after drinking ahead of the safety of the other driver, or me, or you.
I believe that kind of selfish behavior rises to the level of criminal recklessness. If only the law would catch up with what’s clearly true.
Chris Conley
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