A number of factors can affect which kind of DUI charge a prosecutor will choose to file against any Wisconsin resident is who accused of drunk driving. One factor is whether or not an accused individual has ever been convicted of OWI or DUI before. If a person has previous convictions, he or she could face increasingly severe consequences if the court decides to convict again. That is why a strong DUI defense is necessary to ensuring that all of the circumstances of an arrest are considered and that the rights of the accused are fully protected in court.
One woman from Oak Creek will need such a defense after a police report claimed that she ran over a fire hydrant while intoxicated. According to a local news report, the arresting police officer did not actually see the 48-year-old woman’s car hit the fire hydrant. However, she did tell the officer that her car had collided with the hydrant when she made a wide turn.
The arresting officer said the woman smelled of alcohol. She was apparently administered a blood-alcohol test, which was said to show her blood-alcohol level to be .24 percent. Whether or not the testing device was properly calibrated was not mentioned in a local news report, nor was it indicated whether the field sobriety tests the woman was asked to perform were conducted in a reasonable manner.
The accused driver in this case has two previous OWI convictions, one in 2001 and one in 2010. She was recently charged in Milwaukee with third-offense OWI and operating a motor vehicle with a prohibited alcohol concentration. If convicted, she could face much more serious penalties than before. To combat the charges against her, she will need the help of an experienced OWI defense attorney who will call into question the circumstances of the arrest and seek to protect the woman’s driving privileges should the court consider revoking them.
Source: Oak Creek Patch, “Alleged Drunk Driver Hit Oak Creek Fire Hydrant,” Joe Petrie, Feb. 22, 2012