By Shereen Siewert
A 45-year-old man is facing felony drunken driving and firearms charges after an alleged hit-and-run crash in Abbotsford.
Richard W. Nieman, of Unity, appeared Monday in Marathon County Circuit Court, where he is charged with sixth-offense drunken driving and possession of a firearm as a felon. He was released Wednesday after posting a $5,000 cash bond.
According to the criminal complaint, police were called at 5:24 p.m. Dec. 7 to the parking lot of the Abbyland Specialty Sausage plant, 920 E. Spruce St., for a report of a hit-and-run crash. Police say the crash itself happened at Hwy. 13 and Spruce Street and the caller who notified dispatch followed the striking vehicle to the parking lot.
In the lot, police discovered a 1997 Buick Century with significant front-end damage. The vehicle was running and Nieman was in the driver’s seat, according to the report.
Halfway through field sobriety testing, Nieman told police he “wanted to be honest” by admitting he was drunk, court documents state. He agreed to a preliminary breath test, which showed a blood alcohol concentration of 0.26 percent, 13 times the limit imposed on Nieman due to his prior OWI convictions.
Court documents show Nieman was previously convicted of drunken driving in 1005, 1998, 2005, 2008 and 2012.
Nieman also admitted having an unloaded rifle in the trunk of the vehicle, which was seized by police. Nieman is prohibited from owning a firearm because he is a convicted felon.
If convicted on the OWI charge, Nieman faces a
