The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said a truck driver nearly four times the legal limit rolled his semi over in broad daylight Wednesday. The driver was on his way from Green Bay to Milwaukee. The sheriff’s office said he had made it all the way to Interstate 41 just southeast of Slinger when the truck rolled over. “I just witnessed a rollover semi 41 southbound,” an off-duty law enforcement officer can be heard saying on dispatcher audio. That off-duty law enforcement officer happened to be Washington County Sheriff Martin Schulteis. He said he had noticed the fully loaded semi well before the rollover. “As I watched it closer, it was really having a hard time maintaining the lane of traffic,” he said. Witnesses told WISN 12 News the driver couldn’t stay in his lane. “I was going to pick up my kids, and there was a semi that was driving really slow, kind of weaving around on the road, going off the shoulder,” witness Emily Krueger said. “The guy turned on his four-ways, and it was just weird.”The sheriff said he decided to pull up alongside the driver to see if he was texting or experiencing a medical episode. “I very quickly saw that he was coming into my lane of traffic, so then I needed to take… action and get into the shoulder,” Schulteis said. “He started slowing down. He signaled a lane change to pull off onto the shoulder of the road, and he kept pulling off onto the shoulder of the road and pulled into the grass and then rolled over.”The sheriff said deputies had to extricate the driver, whose preliminary breath test revealed a blood alcohol level of 0.297. That’s nearly four times the legal limit for someone to drive a car. The sheriff said it’s more than seven times the limit for a truck driver. “When the deputies asked him what happened, he replied that he was just really drunk,” he said. “For 3 o’clock in the afternoon, just going to pick up kids, like, you wouldn’t have expected that,” Krueger said. “I mean, stuff happens, but not at that time and definitely not from a truck like that.”The sheriff’s office said the driver received a first offense OWI citation. The sheriff said no one was hurt. WISN 12 News did reach out to the trucking company about the driver’s employment status but have not yet heard back.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said a truck driver nearly four times the legal limit rolled his semi over in broad daylight Wednesday.
The driver was on his way from Green Bay to Milwaukee. The sheriff’s office said he had made it all the way to Interstate 41 just southeast of Slinger when the truck rolled over.
“I just witnessed a rollover semi 41 southbound,” an off-duty law enforcement officer can be heard saying on dispatcher audio.
That off-duty law enforcement officer happened to be Washington County Sheriff Martin Schulteis. He said he had noticed the fully loaded semi well before the rollover.
“As I watched it closer, it was really having a hard time maintaining the lane of traffic,” he said.
Witnesses told WISN 12 News the driver couldn’t stay in his lane.
“I was going to pick up my kids, and there was a semi that was driving really slow, kind of weaving around on the road, going off the shoulder,” witness Emily Krueger said. “The guy turned on his four-ways, and it was just weird.”
The sheriff said he decided to pull up alongside the driver to see if he was texting or experiencing a medical episode.
“I very quickly saw that he was coming into my lane of traffic, so then I needed to take… action and get into the shoulder,” Schulteis said. “He started slowing down. He signaled a lane change to pull off onto the shoulder of the road, and he kept pulling off onto the shoulder of the road and pulled into the grass and then rolled over.”
The sheriff said deputies had to extricate the driver, whose preliminary breath test revealed a blood alcohol level of 0.297. That’s nearly four times the legal limit for someone to drive a car. The sheriff said it’s more than seven times the limit for a truck driver.
“When the deputies asked him what happened, he replied that he was just really drunk,” he said.
“For 3 o’clock in the afternoon, just going to pick up kids, like, you wouldn’t have expected that,” Krueger said. “I mean, stuff happens, but not at that time and definitely not from a truck like that.”
The sheriff’s office said the driver received a first offense OWI citation.
The sheriff said no one was hurt. WISN 12 News did reach out to the trucking company about the driver’s employment status but have not yet heard back.
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