Happy 21st Birthday, You Are Under Arrest

The best present a young Waukesha man could take away from ending his coming-of-legal-age day in a police booking room would be to learn a lasting lesson – to not ever drink and drive again.

At 1:18 a.m. July 14, the now 21-year-old was arrested on his birthday – the first day he could legally drink – after he was involved in a hit and run crash at Capitol Drive and Lilly Road.

A Butler police officer spotted him at 124th Street and Hampton Road and followed when he accelerated quickly to 65 mph in the 45-mph zone. The suspect was straddling lane lines and had obvious fresh damage to his car.

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When stopped, he asked officers – as if they would know better than he – what he had hit. He had an open bottle of Crown Royale in the car, and when officers in their turn asked if he knew what had happened, he said, “I don’t know, I’m pretty (expletive) up.”

He failed sobriety tests, blew a .16 blood alcohol concentration on a breath test and was booked for operating while intoxicated, first offense.

Brookfield police assisted with the arrest, but their reports did not include an account of the original hit and run incident or what other charges the suspect might face because of it.