Mount Pleasant police say a 32-year-old man stole a car, drove it drunk and with a revoked license and was involved in a hit-and-run accident.
David Kuzia, of Mount Pleasant, was charged Friday in Racine County Circuit Court with one felony count each
of taking and driving a vehicle without the owner’s consent and possession of marijuana as well as one misdemeanor count each of third offense operating while intoxicated and operating a vehicle with a revoked license. If convicted, he faces up to 11-1/2 years in prison and/or fines up to $24,500 in fines.
According to the criminal complaint, Racine police were called Tuesday by a man who said he and his girlfriend were at a store in the 2300 block of 17th Street when the woman’s 2006 Chevy Impala was stolen after leaving it unlocked and with the keys inside.
Mount Pleasant police say they were dispatched around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to the intersection of Highways 38 and 31 for a report of a hit-and-run accident. The driver who called 911 said he was stopped when a man – later identified as Kuzia – hit the back bumper of his vehicle and then drove away. The driver described the man as bald, in his 30s and possibly intoxicated. The man said he didn’t want to press charges, but he was concerned about Kuzia driving drunk.
A short time later, officers were told that Kuzia left the car in the city on Hamilton just east of LaSalle and was walking south wearing blue jeans and a light blue long-sleeved shirt, the complaint reads. When police caught up to Kuzia – whom they know from past interactions for drug and mental health issues – he had a quantity of marijuana in his pocket, and he was taken into custody.
Officers say they needed to have Kuzia medically cleared before booking him into the Racine County Jail, and en route to the hospital Kuzia said he was homicidal, suicidal and schizophrenic because of the prescription and street drugs he takes with alcohol. A man in a tan video observed Kuzia with police and shouted, “That’s they guy that hit me on Hamilton and Marquette.”
Kuzia failed field sobriety tests and became combative with officers once he was at the hospital. He repeatedly said he wanted to fight officers and that he would “kick (their) ass,” the complaint reads. Kuzia was restrained and successfully booked into RCJ once hospital staff cleared him.
He remains in the Racine County Jail on a $1,500 cash bond and was ordered to supply a DNA sample and to not possess or consume any alcohol. Kuzia will next be in court Sept. 9 for a preliminary hearing.