By Shereen Siewert
WAUSAU — Police suspect a 28-year-old Marshfield man was high on drugs when he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving — his sixth offense in 12 years.
Police were alerted just after 5 p.m. Monday to a report of an erratic driver headed southbound on Hwy. 97 when a Stratford Police officer noticed a vehicle “swerving and swaying” in the roadway, according to court documents. The officer stopped the driver, later identified as Kenneth R. Genett, who was driving with an ignition interlock device, or IID, installed in his vehicle.
Genett, who had slurred speech, constricted pupils and an “empty stare,” blew into the IID for the officer, but the device did not detect alcohol in the man’s system, according to the police report. But Genett, who was out on bond for a pending LSD possession charge in Wood County, failed field sobriety tests and was taken to a hospital for chemical testing of his blood, police said.
Blood test results are pending.
Genett appeared Tuesday in Marathon County Circuit Court to face charges of sixth offense operating while intoxicated and felony bail jumping. Circuit Judge Jill Falstad ordered Gennett held on a $5,000 cash bond; he remains in the Marathon County Jail.
A preliminary hearing is set for March 28.
