Ronald E. Saugstad, 51, Waupaca, was charged with a seventh drunken driving offense.
Shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, Waupaca Police Officer Wesley Zube was dispatched to JR’s Sportsman’s Bar on West Fulton Street in response to a reported crash.
When he arrived, Zube found a vehicle had crashed into the south side of the building.
A man standing near the vehicle told Zube he had taken the keys out of the ignition to keep the driver from leaving the scene.
The driver, identified as Saugstad, was lying half in the driver’s seat and half in the front passenger’s seat.
According to the criminal complaint, Zube asked Saugstad how much he had to drink and he responded, “A couple.”
When the officer asked Saugstad what he meant by “a couple,” Saugstad reportedly said, “Not enough.”
Saugstad was subsequently taken by ambulance to Riverside Medical Center.
While Zube was inspecting the crash site and working on his report, dispatch advised him that Waupaca County
Sheriff’s Deputy Clint Thobaben was looking for this same vehicle. Witnesses had reported that Saugsted consumed at least four drinks at a restaurant on County Road QQ in King, then hit a mailbox as he was leaving the parking lot.
Zube and Thobaben then went to RMC to question Saugsted. While the officers and medical staff were speaking with Saugstad, he kept falling asleep, the complaint says.
Saugstad was previously convicted of drunken driving in November 1989 in Waukesha County, December 1991 in Milwaukee County, March 1997, April 1997 and April 1998 in Waupaca County, and June 2002 in Outagamie County.