By Shereen Siewert
WAUSAU — A call about a man urinating outside a Wausau convenience store Friday ultimately led to an arrest for a 48-year-old man now facing charges of sixth-offense drunken driving.
Mitchell Durkee appeared Monday, April 22 in Marathon County Circuit Court, where he was ordered held on a $2,500 bond with the first $1,000 to be paid in cash.
Police were called at 8 p.m. Friday to Kwik Trip, 310 Grand Ave., for a report of suspicious activity. The caller told police he observed a man urinating around the side of the store, according to court documents. After officers arrived, they observed a man, later identified as Durkee, walk out of the store and get into a pickup that matched the description given by the caller. When Durkee pulled out of the parking lot and headed south on Grand Avenue, police stopped him because he was driving without any headlights or taillights illuminated and was traveling at about 40 mph in a 25 mph zone, the police report states.
Court documents state Durkee initially agreed to field sobriety testing but stopped midway through, telling the officers, “Look, I don’t gotta do any of this (expletive) bullshit, do what you’re going to (expletive) do.”
Durkee then allegedly refused a chemical test of his blood, forcing officers to obtain a warrant for the blood draw. The results of the test are pending.
Police also noted Durkee was driving without an ignition interlock device (IID) in the vehicle, which was ordered as part of his sentence for a 2012 fifth offense OWI conviction.
A preliminary hearing is set for June 7.
