New Year's Bust: 27 Arrested for OWI in Milwaukee County

From the Mlwaukee County Sheriff's Office: Acting Sheriff Richard Schmidt ordered increased patrols for the New Year’s Eve OWI Enforcement Operation from Friday, December 29 at 6:00 a.m. through Monday, January 1 at 2:00 p.m. The New Year’s Eve initiative focused on keeping the public safe from those who engage in the dangerous behavior of driving under the influence (DUI), speeding, and reckless driving.

Sheriff Schmidt joined the 2nd and 3rd shift patrol deputies, driving a squad and stopping drunken drivers. He said, “I announced we would be out in force, and we were. I worked with the deputies and the number of arrests that were made stresses the point that we need a cultural mindset change towards reckless, intoxicated driving.”

Five people were arrested for repeat OWI offenses: Dennis McBride, age 66, of Milwaukee, for OWI-3rd, and for OWI-2nd: Brian Paulina, age 42, of Milwaukee; Brianne Garvin, age 32, of Wauwatosa; Brian Willis, age 43, of Milwaukee; and Jordan Nash, age 27, of Washington, D.C.

First time offenders arrested were Jeffrey Toboyek, age 46, of Madison; Xavier Ferguson, age 26, of Winnebago; Deven Hanzel, age 24, of Franklin; Frank Seago, age 29, of Loves Park, Illinois; Darius Palmer, age 26, of Chicago; Chavandalyn Jackson, age 27, of Racine, Carly Prust, age 20, of Sheboygan; Adrienne Lockhart, age 38, of West Allis; Deborah Avery, age 39, of Fond du Lac; and Milwaukee residents: Tsu-Badi Wierdsma, age 50; Jose Lerma-Diaz, age 24; Dontrell Gordon, age 47; Jonah Antos, age 23; Erika Taylor, age 31; Andre Dyson, age 39; Ira Clay, age 45; Adora Wilson, age 43; Ricky Means, age 30; Danzel Oneil, age 28; George Brown, age 41; Eric Blue, age 29; and Dillon Congleton, age 26.

The Sheriff’s Office enforcement initiative resulted in the following arrests, citations, and calls for service:

New Year’s Weekend Stats - (12/29, 30, 31 and 01/01/2018)

• 191 Traffic Stops
• 4 Seat Belt Violations
• 90 Excessive Speed Citations
• 29 Unlicensed/ Revoked/ Suspended Drivers
• 26 Other Moving Violations
• 27 OWIs
• 48 crashes with property damage
• 11 personal injury crashes
• 1 fatal crash
• 6 drunken driving-related crashes
• 7 Warrant arrests
• 10 Summary arrests

New Year’s Eve/Day Stats – Totals for 12/31- 01/01 (These are included in the weekend totals above).

14 drunken drivers were arrested on the holiday. The first drunken driver was arrested at 11:45pm Sunday.

The last OWI arrest occurred at 8:59 am Monday.

• The average prohibited alcohol level was 0.16
• The highest prohibited alcohol level was 0.27
• A total of 70 citations were issued
• Age range of those arrested for OWI: 23 to 48
• Gender range of those arrested: 11 men, 3 women
• Speeding citations = 39
• OWIs = 14
• BAC= 8 (6 blood draws)
• OWR/OWS/OWL= 14
• Non-Moving= 5 ; Other Moving Violations= 26
• Seat Belts= 3
• PI Crashes= 4
• OWI related crashes= 1
• Fatal = 1 (pending toxicology)

The New Year’s Eve OWI Enforcement Operation started Friday at 6am through 2pm Monday.

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