Waterford driver charged with sixth drunken driving offense
By Patricia Bogumil
Interim editor
The March 2 snowfall lead to the arrest of a 40-year-old Waterford man, after police reported finding just one set of footsteps in the snow leading from his vehicle, which crashed in Caledonia in the early morning hours of March 4.
According to the criminal complaint filed in Racine County Circuit Court:
A Caledonia police officer on patrol at about 2:10 a.m. March 4 observed a 1997 GM Yukon in a field west of the intersection of County Highway H and Five Mile Road.
The officer reported the vehicle appeared to have been traveling westbound on Five Mile Road when its driver missed a stop sign and continued straight at the T-intersection, ending up in a field to the west of where Five Mile Road ends.
The vehicle was unoccupied, but the officer observed only one set of footprints in the snow leaving from the passenger side and heading south and then east to County Highway H.
The vehicle is registered to Shawn C. Gayhart, Waterford.
About an hour later, a county communications worker on her way home contacted police to report that she had come upon Gayhart walking on Four Mile Road, west of County Highway V.
Police responded and found Gayhart with dried blood on his hands, jacket and face. There was also blood in the vehicle.
Gayhart reportedly said he had been in an accident but was not driving. Police reported an odor of intoxicants on Gayhart’s breath and performed standard field sobriety tests, which he failed.
He was subsequently taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Racine for a blood draw, the results of which were not yet available at the time of the report.
Police also report that while waiting with Gayhart at the hospital, he stated that he had been visiting friends in Racine and had been at a saloon watching a country band.
He also reportedly stated he did not know how he lost control of the vehicle on the way home and did not know that the road ended.
Gayhart is charged with a sixth offense of operating while intoxicated and operating a motor vehicle while license is revoked.
If convicted, he faces up to 6.5 years in prison and an additional year in county jail, as well as fines of $13,100.
Gayhart was scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Racine County Circuit Court on March 14, at which time a judge would determine whether the matter should proceed to trial.
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