A six-time convicted drunken driver is again charged with operating while intoxicated as well as child neglect after he allegedly left his 2-year-old son at home while he went to buy tobacco.
Nathan T. Hansen, 41, of Kansasville was charged with operating while intoxicated (seventh, eighth or ninth offense) and neglecting a child (specified harm did not occur) in Racine County Circuit Court on Tuesday.
According to the criminal complaint, a Racine County Sheriff’s deputy on Sunday pulled a car driven by Hansen over on Eagle Road in Kansasville for traveling at a “rate of speed significantly greater than the posted 25 mph speed limit.”
The deputy alleges that a strong odor of intoxicants was coming from the car and Hansen had bloodshot eyes and slurred his speech. When the deputy asked for a driver’s license Hansen initially gave him a credit card, the complaint contends.
When Hansen was asked to step out of the car, the deputy noted Hansen had two unopened bottles of vodka sticking out of his jacket pockets, according to the complaint.
Hansen was taken to the Kansasville Fire Station, but once there refused to perform field sobriety tests. When he was placed under arrest, Hansen then asked to make a phone call because his son, 2, was home alone, according to the complaint.
The deputy noted that 27 minutes had elapsed from the time Hansen was pulled over until he told officers about his son being home alone.
According to the complaint, Hansen said he “just went to the gas station to get some tobacco.”
Officers responded to Hansen’s residence and found the child in his crib watching television. Racine County Child Protective Services assisted deputies in reuniting the boy with his mother.
Hansen refused to supply a sample of his blood for testing, but deputies obtained a search warrant forcing Hansen to comply.
The criminal complaint notes that Hansen has been convicted of drunken driving on six prior occasions from 1998 through 2009. He also has convictions for battery, obstructing, fleeing an officer and disorderly conduct.
Hansen appeared in court Tuesday where a court commissioner set cash bond at $2,500 and ruled that there is probable cause a crime was committed, according to online court records. He was also ordered not to possess or consume alcohol and to submit to random testing for the presence of alcohol in his system.
A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Feb. 7.
For more Western Racine County Court news see the Jan. 31 edition of the Burlington Standard Press or the Feb. 1 editions of the Waterford Post and Westine Report.
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