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Political volunteer busted for OWI
Political volunteer busted for OWI
WAUKESHA CO. (WITI) -- A woman is arrested for driving drunk. It's a case that's making news because of who she is and what she was doing.
Jeanne Tarantino says operating while intoxicated (OWI) was far from her mind on Tuesday night. The candidate for state Assembly says she was making fundraising calls when she noticed it was time to pick up her daughter from a dance studio.
"When my son came down the stairs, I said to him, 'Sal could you get your sister at 8:30 from dance? Rachel stepped off the couch and said 'I could get Ava.'" said Tarantino.
Rachel in this case is 31-year-old Rachel Pecor. She went to pick up Tarantino's daughter.
Pecor previously worked for the Romney campaign and was volunteering for Tarantino. She wound up in the back of a squad car after Pewaukee police say they observed her struggle to make a left-hand turn -- before picking up Tarantino's daughter.
According to the police report, the officer smelled alcohol and asked if she had been drinking. During the ensuing field sobriety test, the other officer had to catch Pecor who lost her balance.
After initially resisting, Pecor took a breathalyzer test and blew a .20 -- more than twice the legal limit for driving.
"Had I known she had been drinking at all, I never would've placed my daughter in her care," said Tarantino.
Police found three empty vodka bottles in the car Pecor was driving.
FOX6 News' A.J. Bayatpour spoke with Pecor on the phone on Friday, February 15th. She was distraught and declined to make any comment.
It should be noted, the chief of Pewaukee Police, Ed Baumann, is one of four people running against Tarantino in a Republican primary on Tuesday, February 19th.