Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, stopped for erratic driving Monday night and later charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, announced she that will address the citizens of Wisconsin Thursday morning concerning her charge.
The press conference follows the arrest made in Dodge County after the car Lautenschlager was driving was reportedly swerving in the road and then pulled her car off the road and into the ditch on U.S. Highway 151 northwest of the Wisconsin city of Columbus, less than 40 miles away from Madison. One other passenger was in the car at the time of police intervention. The vehicle Lautenschlager was driving at the time was a state-owned sedan she often uses.
College Republicans’ chair and University of Wisconsin student Frank Harris said some people could find Lautenschlager’s use of the state-owned property as problematic. He also said he had qualms about the attorney general’s actions and what the punishment could be.
“It’d be a lot different if she was a politician,” Harris said, noting that other politicians have been stopped for drunk driving before, but the state’s top cop should not be put in this situation.
Since the incident, Lautenschlager has apologized, but some citizens might not see this as enough.
“Should she resign … I don’t know,” Harris said, adding he was not one to call for her leaving the job. “It’s a tricky situation.”
The police report, filed by Cpl. Paul Nell of the Dodge County Sheriff’s Department, reported Lautenschlager said she had two glasses of wine, with the last drink imbibed at 9:30 p.m. Lautenschlager also told Nell she takes asthma medication and had one Flexeril pill at about 4 p.m. Flexeril is a pill used as a muscle relaxant and pain reliever, and users are urged to limit alcohol intake while using because it adds to the dizziness and drowsiness often experienced with the drug.
Nell then performed several field sobriety tests, the last of which was a preliminary breath test where Lautenschlager blew a .12. Lautenschlager refused to submit to an evidentiary chemical test, which could be refused. This, in turn, can sacrifice her driver’s license privileges.
Lautenschlager recited the letters “E” to “P” as was instructed by the officer with no reported difficulty. Nell stated in the police report Lautenschlager did not complete tests used to test a general sobriety satisfactorily, including walking in a straight line, touching toe to heel and balancing on one foot for more than 20 seconds.
Lautenschlager was released after her husband, William Rippl, signed a release form. This was the attorney general’s first offense.
UW Police Department Lt. Eric Holen said there are many factors that contribute to intoxication and visible inability to operate a motor vehicle.
“[Level of intoxication] all depends on the person,” Holen related. “There are so many variables, like time of consumption, body composition, weight, gender, when the last time they ate…”
Holen said he has seen people totally incapacitated at a .12 blood alcohol content and also has encountered individuals at a .30 BAC that “give the appearance of being totally normal.”
According to a Wisconsin Department of Transportation alcohol calculator, a woman who weighs 130 pounds having two drinks in two hours would have a BAC of .046. However, Holen cautions that such calculators are not accurate and are just estimations.
