Seventh drunk driving incident nets seven years prison

A Solon Springs man faces seven years in the Wisconsin Prison System after he was found guilty of his seventh offense for driving intoxicated.

Carl Matthew Andrews, 42, was found guilty of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and operating with a prohibited blood alcohol concentration during a March jury trial. He was sentenced Tuesday to three years confinement and four years extended supervision, in addition to a $3,833 fine and 36-month driver’s license revocation.

According to the criminal complaint:

Officers from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department were called to the Village Pump Bar in Solon Springs concerning an unwanted guest after the bar closed June 19.

When deputies arrived they found an intoxicated man slumped against the locked door of the bar. The bartender told deputies the man was outside banging on the door so hard she though he was going to break it down.

The deputy identified Andrews and discovered that he had a revoked license with six prior convictions for operating while intoxicated. After observing a lone truck in the parking lot registered to Andrew’s wife and a vehicle key hanging from his belt loop. The deputy advised Andrews to walk home. Andrews then walked to the back of the building.

After speaking to the bartender, the deputy checked on the vehicle before being requested to respond to another call.

Around 5 a.m., the deputy returned to Solon Springs and saw the vehicle running in the parking lot at the village pump, with Andrews passed out behind the wheel, his foot resting on the gas pedal. While the deputy couldn’t determine if the vehicle had moved since he first saw it, Andrews told him he’d arrived there five minutes earlier after driving from Superior.

The deputy administered a portable breathalyzer test, which registered a 0.177. After taking Andrews into custody, he became combative, calling the deputy names and threatening him and his family, and kicked at the windows and interior of the squad, breaking some plastic pieces.

He was sentenced to one year in jail, concurrent to the prison sentence, after being found guilty of criminal damage to property.

Andrews was found not guilty of threatening to injure or accuse of a crime in connection with the June 19 incident.

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