By Shereen Siewert
A 53-year-old Wausau man is accused of fleeing the scene of a Dec. 20 crash to get “some more booze,” according to court documents.
Randy Svendsen appeared Monday in Marathon County Circuit Court, where he faces felony charges of hit-and-run causing injury and seventh-offense drunken driving. During an initial appearance, Circuit Judge Greg Strasser ordered Svendsen held on a $50,000 cash bond.
Court documents show police were dispatched at 1:52 p.m. to the intersection of Sherman Street and South 17th Avenue for a report of a hit-and-run crash after a woman reported her vehicle was struck by another vehicle that fled the scene.
The driver who reported the crash told police she had a green traffic signal and was struck when the vehicle’s other driver, later identified as Svendsen, rapidly accelerated and turned in front of her, causing her vehicle to spin her car around toward other traffic. Additional witnesses confirmed the driver’s story and identified the license plate, which led police to Svendsen.
When police arrived at Svendsen’s residence, he didn’t answer the door, but officers could see the vehicle inside the garage with a license plate that matched the description and damage to the front passenger side of the vehicle, court documents state.
While at the home, police heard radio traffic for a medical call nearby for a man lying unconscious on the sidewalk with a gash to his head. That man turned out to be Svendsen, who was transported to Aspirus Wausau Hospital by ambulance.
According to the criminal complaint, after Svendsen’s initial medical assessment, Svendsen admitted to police he “ran into a car” and said, “Well, I was drunk driving.”
When asked how much he had to drink, Svendsen allegedly replied, “Too (expletive) much, cop,” according to court documents.
He also allegedly told police he left the scene and went to a nearby convenience store for “more booze,” then went home to drink “some more booze,” court documents state.
Results of a chemical test of Svendsen’s blood are pending.
Court records show Svendsen’s most recent OWI was in 2014 in Marathon County.
A preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 2.
