By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
There is nothing short of jail time that can keep some repeat drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel. Suspended licenses, vehicle breath monitors and threat of imprisonment aren’t enough in some cases.
Earlier this year, Bowling Green Police Division responded to the report of a disabled car blocking the road. Nearby, officers found Charles Koehler, 59, leaning against a telephone pole.
According to the police report, Koehler’s speech was slurred, he had difficulty maintaining his balance, and his pants zipper was down. He reportedly refused to take field sobriety tests, but later at the police station he agreed to take a breath test.
Koehler blew a 0.363 – more than four times the legal limit in Ohio.
It was his sixth charge of driving drunk in Wood County.
That same weekend, the Wood County Sheriff’s Office responded to a crash on U.S. 6. According to the accident report, the car went off the road, struck a pole, then hit the guy wire on a utility pole causing it to snap, then struck another utility pole, breaking the pole off at the base.
By the time sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene, the driver was gone. However, deputies found Seth Thomas walking away from the crash. Thomas denied driving the vehicle, but three items linked him with the crash – injuries that could not be explained, items of his at the crash scene, and the car keys in his pocket, according to Chief Deputy Eric Reynolds.
“This office has had numerous contacts with him,” Reynolds said.
The previous night, Thomas, 38, crashed his vehicle on Interstate 75 north of Bowling Green. Though he reportedly denied drinking excessively prior to the crash, video from Hollywood Casino showed otherwise, said Bowling Green Prosecutor Hunter Brown.
According to reports, since Thomas’ car had been confiscated the previous night on I-75, he borrowed the car he crashed on Route 6 the next night.
This was Thomas’ fifth charge of driving under the influence, and his sixth for driving with a suspended license, in the Bowling Green Municipal Court records.
“There is nothing about not having a driver’s license that will keep this guy from driving,” Brown said. “This is a guy continuing driving drunk and causing accidents.”
Licenses are usually suspended when a driver is found to be intoxicated, or if the driver refuses to be tested, Brown said. But that doesn’t always deter.
In fact, half of the driving offenses that come before Bowling Green Municipal Court involve drivers under suspension.
Other than imprisonment, there is no fool-proof way to keep a repeated drunk driver off the road. When Thomas’ car has been confiscated in the past, he has just used someone else’s vehicle, Brown said.
There are mechanisms designed to stop someone under the influence from starting a vehicle – boots disabling cars, monitors the driver must breathe into, or ankle bracelets that monitor alcohol levels through the skin.
But like the system that requires the driver to blow into it before starting the car, it can easily be bypassed by the driver asking someone else to breathe into the monitor, or by borrowing another car, Brown said.
“I get angry about it,” Brown said of repeat drunk drivers.
“He’s 59 years old. He knows better,” he said of Koehler.
When Brown handles repeat cases, he is tempted to ask the jury – “How many OVIs is enough?”
Courts can’t keep drunk drivers off the roads
Everyday, almost 30 people in the U.S. die in drunk driving crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In 2017, that added up to 10,874 people.
But unless they cause deaths, even repeated drunk drivers can’t be put in jail for long periods.
And in some cases, like Koehler’s, at least two of his DUI arrests went nowhere. One in 2002 was handled in a local mayor’s court and failed to proceed after he refused to take a breath test.
Another arrest in 2014 by the state patrol was dismissed due to a lack of evidence.
“He has somehow gotten out of two,” Brown said.
Ohio law states the first OVI offense is punishable with a minimum of three days in jail. A second offense in 10 years brings a minimum of 10 days in jail – unless the driver blows a “high test” of 0.17 blood alcohol concentration or more, which can then bring a minimum of 20 days in jail.
For a third offense in 10 years, the sentence can range from 30 days to one year.
The longest a license can be suspended is three years, Brown said.
But often the courts don’t suspend licenses, since the offender needs to be able to earn a living.
“People need to go to work,” Brown said. “So they get driving privileges.”
Frustrating for law enforcement
The courts aren’t the only agency feeling frustrated by repeated drunk drivers.
“We have some over the years we’ve arrested several times,” Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn said.
There is currently no way to effectively keep them off the roads.
“The only way to do that is to lock them up – and our society doesn’t do that,” the sheriff said.
Efforts like the breath starters in cars are only effective if the driver is compliant.
“But if they hop in someone else’s car, they can take off,” Wasylyshyn said.
There seems to be little care about endangering others on road, Reynolds said.
“They obviously don’t have any regard for the law or the community,” he said. “A suspended driver’s licence is really meaningless.”
Bowling Green Police Division also sees repeat OVI offenders.
“If we deal with the same people for the same things over and over, it does get frustrating for the officers,” Lt. Dan Mancuso said.
But he realizes the court’s hands are tied.
“The court can only do so much,” Mancuso said.
Focus on opiates takes spotlight off alcohol
The number of deaths caused by the opioid crisis in the U.S. has shifted the focus away from the potential dangers of alcohol, according to Chris Streidl, of the Wood County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board.
“Alcohol has taken a backseat to opiates,” Streidl said.
That’s only natural, with the big spike seen in opiate overdose deaths. However, there is a notable difference with drunk driving.
“It’s more likely to kill someone else,” Streidl said.
And while the drug Vivitrol is used to help opiate addicts overcome by blocking any enjoyment from opiates – that drug does not work for those addicted to alcohol since alcohol hits more receptors in the brain, he explained.
Since alcohol is legal, abuses can pass under the radar.
“Alcohol is socially acceptable,” Streidl said. “The perception of harm is much less.”
Treatment options are often ordered by the courts for drunk driving offenders. In Wood County, there are therapy services, intensive outpatient groups, and a driver intervention program held at Nazareth Hall.
The programs have varying success.
“The research would indicate people are as likely, if not more likely, to get better if they are compelled to treatment,” Streidl said.
For some offenders, standing before a judge is enough to scare them straight.
But not all.
Some need detox and inpatient treatment, so the can be monitored as they dry out.
“If you’re that far along in your addiction, it’s very dangerous to stop,” Streidl said.
