A Pewaukee man was charged with his fifth OWI offense after he nearly crashed his car into a house on Thanksgiving.
It happened early that morning near Golf and Elmhurst Roads in Waukesha. According to the Wisconsin State Patrol, Justin Murphy, 37, was first seeing by a trooper traveling more than 100 miles per hour on Golf Road, which runs parallel to I-94.
The trooper lost sight of Murphy, according to reports, and later learned that Murphy had crashed his car within feet of someone's home.
Dash camera video from the trooper shows the moment a state trooper found Murphy walking on the side of the road after the crash. The trooper can be heard commenting that Murphy's head is bleeding. And when he asks Murphy if he had just been in a crash, Murphy said that he was walking home from a bar.
According to a criminal complaint, the trooper could smell alcohol and he noticed Murphy had glassy eyes and slurred speech.
Medical personnel eventually took him to the hospital where he reportedly became aggressive, even threatening to kill the trooper.
"It could have been tragic. He could have killed himself or he could have killed somebody else," said Lt. Nate Clarke with the Wisconsin State Patrol. "He came very close to striking a house during the crash, and you know we're really trying to mitigate those deaths out here that are caused by drinking and driving."
According to the criminal complaint, this is Murphy's fifth OWI offense. His last conviction was in 2004. If convicted on the most recent charge, he faces up to six years in prison.
