Mukwonago man charged with 6th OWI with child in vehicle

Waukesha – A 35-year-old Village of Mukwonago man was charged this afternoon with sixth-drunken driving after he rolled his vehicle, with his young son in the vehicle, on Highway 83 in the Town of Mukwonago Christmas morning.

Jeffrey G. Gleiss of 227 Arrowhead Drive, who is being held on $10,000 cash bail in Waukesha Count Jail, was also charged with a misdemeanor count of resisting an officer as well as the felony charge of operating while intoxicated- sixth offense, with a minor child in the vehicle.

According to the criminal complaint, Gleiss was driving north on Highway 83 when his vehicle apparently left the road and into a ditch and then hit a road hazard sign, knocking it down, straddled a culvert for a driveway and then the vehicle rolled onto its roof near Sugden Road at about 10:30 a.m.

A Town of Mukwonago officer arrived and found the vehicle on its side and a 5-year-old boy in the vehicle.

Gleiss said he was driving to Highway 59 to do a child exchange with the boy’s mother. The officer wanted Gleiss to perform a field sobriety test but Gleiss wanted to talk about tire tracks in the snow and calling the child’s mother, the complaint said.

Gleiss refused to comply with the field sobriety exercises and was taken into custody for drunken driving. At that point Gleiss refused to get into the squad car and the officer talked with him for about five minutes to get into the squad car, but he continued to refuse, the complaint said. Other officers arrived and physically placed Gleiss into the car, the complaint said.

Gleiss was taken to Waukesha Memorial Hospital where he refused to submit to a blood test, but one was taken, the complaint said.

Gleiss was convicted of drunken driving in June 1995, June 1997, February 2000, February 2001 and September 2005. He is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 6 for a preliminary hearing.