Sheboygan, WI (WHBL) – If a bill currently being mulled-over by lawmakers in Madison was already enacted, 26-year-old John A. Freeman of Sheboygan would be well on his way to permanently losing his driving privileges in the state of Wisconsin.
Freeman picked up his fifth OWI charge on Friday, November 13 2015 after a Sheboygan police officer, conducting routine patrol, allegedly observed Freeman driving on N. 9th Street at a high rate of speed. The officer says, in a criminal complaint, that he began to follow Freeman’s car after seeing him crossing over the center line.
Once the officer was able to make a traffic stop in the 700 block of Niagara Ave., Freeman initially told the officer that he had consumed one or two beers earlier that evening. But, after failing a field sobriety test, and submitting to a blood test, Freeman later admitted to consuming five or six beers prior to the traffic stop.
Already Freeman’s driving privileges are revoked, however he does have a valid occupational license which allows him to drive to and from work. But, according to the criminal complaint, the 12:15am traffic stop falls well outside of Freeman’s work hours.
Freeman’s previous convictions for operating while intoxicated date back to December, 2008. Subsequent convictions for drunk driving happened in March 2011, January 2012, and August 2012.
Assembly Democrat Eric Genrich of Green Bay authored the so called “Five Strikes” bill which, if passed, would permanently revoke the licenses of those with five-or-more drunken driving convictions. It would also toughen penalties for people with three or more OWI offenses, and two related convictions resulting in death or injury.
Those affected by the new penalties would have to seek reinstatement from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation after ten years.