A Caledonia man stands accused of drunk driving after he crashed his vehicle into a guard rail and into a ravine.
Ryan Duncan, 42, was charged by the Racine County District Attorney’s Office on Friday with suspicion of drunk driving (5th offense) and resisting an officer.
If convicted of both charges, Duncan faces up to 10 years nine months in prison and/or fines up to $35,000.
According to the criminal complaint, an officer with the Caledonia Police Department was called to a report of a car crash at 3:05 p.m. Thursday in the 6100 Block of Highway 31. The officer found Duncan “stumbling down the highway,” not far from the scene of the crash.
Duncan’s clothes were soaked and partially frozen. He also had injuries to his face and hands.
During the investigation, the officer learned that Duncan had crashed the car he was driving into a recycling bin at the end of a driveway, then struck a guardrail and a utility pole. The car then smashed into an embankment before becoming partially submerged in a ravine at a 45-degree angle.
Officers found four to five cans of beer inside the car.
“The defendant smelled of intoxicants, spoke with slow, slurred speech and had bloodshot, glassy eyes,” the complaint reads.
Duncan told police he had gotten out of work at Foxconn at about 9 a.m., went to a strip club in Franklin and had drunk beer there. He left and was driving southbound on Highway 38 when he crashed the vehicle.
Duncan was taken to All Saints – Ascension Hospital for a blood draw. While there, he became resistant when staff tried to get a blood sample. He told the staff that he “would have to fight him” to get the sample.
Sitting up, he resisted the officer’s efforts to keep him in the bed. The blood-alcohol level was .218, more than two times the legal limit of .08.
Racine County Court Commissioner Alice Rudebusch set a cashbond of $1,500. Duncan is expected to be back in court for a preliminary hearing at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Racine County Courthouse.