Two wrong way drunk drivers arrested during Operation Drive Sober patrols

MILWAUKEE COUNTY— Two wrong way drunk drivers were arrested on the Milwaukee County freeway system this weekend.

 

The first happened on Friday around 11:45 p.m.  A 911 caller reported seeing a car driving the wrong way on the off ramp at I-43 at North Ave with no headlights. The caller also said that the vehicle was flashing its emergency lights.

 

When sheriff deputies caught up with the car it was pulled over at I-94 at Hawley Road with a passenger leaned out the car vomiting.

 

The driver, 24-year-old Melissa Juopperi of Pleasant Prairie, faces a charge of recklessly endangering safety, which carries a maximum ten year sentence.

 

She received citations for her first OWI and for giving alcohol to minors.

 

The two minors, ages 16 and 17, were cited for underage drinking.

 

The other wrong way driver, 28-year-old Joseph Laudon of West Allis, was arrested shortly before 1:30 a.m. Sunday for going the wrong way on I-43. He struck the Highway 100 off ramp wall twice before stopping at the end of the ramp.

 

Laudon was arrested for his third OWI. He was stopped by a retired Milwaukee county sheriff deputy.

 

These arrests happened during Operation Drive Sober, a weekend program created to crack down on drunken drivers on the Milwaukee County freeway stem.

 

The operation yielded three other drunken driving arrests this weekend.