A state lawmaker has been arrested, for driving while intoxicated for the second time in less than a year. The Wisconsin State Patrol arrested 40-year-old Jeff Wood near Wausau Wednesday night after several eyewitnesses reported he was driving erratically on Highway 51 northbound.
“I saw this car weaving back and forth, and it had gone on for . . . at least three or four miles,” said motorist Marty Endres, who was driving from Madison to a cabin near Minocqua, when he saw other vehicles get out of Woods’ way. “A semi had passed us, and a few other vehicles. They had also slowed down, too. They were afraid to go by him.”
Endres called 911 after he saw Wood driving erratically. “I can’t say reckless, but he was all over the road,” Endres said. “He was going from the fog line all the way over to the center line. Back and forth, and it was continuous.”
A second 911 caller said Wood nearly sideswiped her car and jumped a curb before a trooper finally pulled him over. Wood said he was looking for a spot on a map later admitted taking six Lorazepam anti-anxiety pills and two doses of Nite-Time cough syrup.
The State Patrol’s previous encounter with the Independent from Chippewa Falls came last December, on the Interstate near Portage. In that incident, Wood was arrested for driving drunk and possessing marijuana. The State Patrol said he crashed into a highway sign in Columbia County. That case remains pending.
WSAU’s Matt Lehman submitted this report
