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Woman Faces 7th OWI After Driving Drunk in Whitefish Bay

The 49-year-old West Allis woman allegedly drove 5 mph on Hampton and nearly hit another vehicle as she swerved onto Lake Drive.

 

A West Allis woman is facing her seventh drunk driving charge after she was caught driving erratically in Whitefish Bay last week.

Gwendolyn Badzinski, 49, was charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court Saturday with one count of seventh offense operating while intoxicated. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in prison and $25,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint:

On Aug. 30, a Whitefish Bay police officer on patrol spotted Badzinski driving erratically near North Lake Drive and East Hampton Avenue. She was doing 5 miles per hour on Hampton Avenue, making extremely long pauses at stop signs and stoplights. She then made a right turn without signaling onto Lake Drive by crossing into the northbound lane, causing an oncoming car to swerve out of the way in order to avoid a head on collision.

The officer pulled Badzinski over and could smell alcohol coming from the vehicle. It took two minutes for her to find her ID in her wallet, and she told the officer she probably had too much beer to drink before driving. She was asked to perform field sobriety tests, but became upset, telling the officer “I’m screwed either way! I have six prior drunk drivings (sic)! Take the refusal! I’m done!”

Badzinski was placed under arrest and finally submitted to a Breathalyzer test four hours after the incident and she still had a blood alcohol level of 0.09.

Badzinski was previously convicted of OWI in 1991, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2004 and 2009. She’s currently being held in Milwaukee County Jail on $7,500 bond while awaiting trial.   

Related Topics: Police Log, Repeat Drunk driver, Seventh offense OWI, West Allis, Whitefish Bay police, and drunk driver

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