Four people charged with drunken driving charges

BY JANINE ANDERSON
Journal Times

Friday, June 20, 2008 9:42 AM CDT

RACINE COUNTY — Four people were charged with felonies early this week for allegedly driving drunk. All have multiple prior convictions for drunken driving.

— Tammie Renee Pena, 43, of Burlington faces her seventh operating while intoxicated charge. Court records show Pena has six prior OWI convictions from Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. She also has a Michigan conviction for violating the state’s implied consent law which requires drivers to submit to tests of their blood or breath alcohol levels.

Monday, witnesses told Burlington police they had just seen a car strike a pole at a gas station. They saw the driver get out and walk unsteadily into the store before heading on foot toward Rumorz bar on Main Street. Officers found Pena at Rumorz, where she had consumed about three-quarters of a bottle of beer, but appeared to be far more intoxicated. She had been in the bar about 15 minutes, according to the criminal complaint.

Officers brought her to the police station where they noted a strong odor of intoxicants. Pena submitted to a blood test; the results are not yet known. Pena told officers she had taken one Vicodin and had seven beers.

— Randall Lloyd Fransway, 42, of South Milwaukee was stopped by Caledonia police at 12:18 a.m. Sunday on Douglas Avenue north of the intersection with 7 Mile Road. He has five prior OWI convictions and faces a new OWI charge plus an operating-after-revocation charge.

An officer saw a car, driven by Fransway, cross the white fog line on the right side of the road several times and stopped the car in the 8900 block of Douglas Avenue. The officer smelled alcohol and saw an empty beer bottle on the floor near the passenger seat. A plastic cup containing an unidentified beverage that smelled like a rum and Coke was in the center console.

Fransway told the officer he had consumed about five beers and that he did not have a valid license. Fransway failed several field sobriety tests. A preliminary breath test showed a breath alcohol content of 0.22 percent. Fransway then submitted to a blood test; the results were not available.

— Matthew Cleveland Thomas, 42, of Columbus, Ohio, was arrested Sunday morning after Racine County sheriff’s deputies were called to the intersection of highways H and KR about 5 a.m. Sunday for a motorist who appeared to be sleeping while stopped at a stop sign. He is charged with fifth offense drunken driving and two counts of felony bail jumping. Thomas has four drunken driving convictions and a fifth case pending in Ozaukee County.

When Thomas was found, at the stop sign, the car was running and its lights were on. The deputy knocked on the window three times to wake Thomas, who then turned off the car and got out.

He said he drank “too much” while out that evening. He failed field sobriety tests and was taken to the hospital for a forced blood draw; the results were not available.

— Christopher James Kolp, 37, of Union Grove was arrested Sunday evening by Sturtevant police. He faces his third drunken driving charge, a felony because he had minor children in the vehicle when he was stopped.

A Sturtevant officer said he saw a vehicle speeding down 90th Street at 7:11 p.m. Sunday. Radar showed a speed of 62 mph.

The officer stopped the vehicle and found Kolp’s speech slurred and eyes glassy. Kolp said he had one drink, then failed field sobriety tests and took a preliminary breath test which showed a level of 0.19 percent, more than twice the legal limit.

Inside Kolp’s vehicle were two children, aged 9 and 5.

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