Drunk driver turns herself in

Talk about it

Law enforcement normally has to pull teeth to arrest a drunk driver. But in central Wisconsin, sheriff’s deputies had a case fall right into their laps.

Officials said 29-year-old Amy Tabaka of Merrill was making the 20-mile trip home from Wausau early yesterday when she decided she was too drunk to drive. So she drove up to a Marathon County squad car where a deputy was writing reports in a tavern parking lot – and she turned herself in.

Field sobriety tests showed that her blood alcohol level was .15, almost twice the legal limit. Sheriff’s Lieutenant Randy Albert quoted Tabaka as saying she was drinking at a home in Wausau – and she decided she shouldn’t be driving.

Tabaka was given her second OWI arrest. She was released to another person’s custody.

It’s rare when a drunk driver goes to the police. Mary Strey of Granton made statewide headlines in the fall of 2009 when she admitted to Clark County deputies that she was driving drunk.

Tags: crime and courts, wisconsin, traffic, crime