WAUKESHA, Wis. - A man who Waukesha County prosecutors said slammed into a couple's car while they were on their way to a hospital has been sentenced to prison for hit-and-run.
In court:
Nicholas Rubenzer, 42, pleaded guilty to felony hit-and-run and no contest to a misdemeanor in July. A Waukesha County judge sentenced him to nine months in jail and two years of probation.
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The Waukesha County District Attorney's Office also charged 29-year-old Craig Collingwood, Rubenzer's passenger at the time of the crash, with two drug possession counts. He pleaded guilty to one and was sentenced to two years of probation.
The backstory:
The crash happened in November 2024. Prosecutors said a woman was driving her husband to a hospital when they were hit at Broadway and Pleasant. Police said Rubenzer ran a stop sign and hit the couple's car, totaling it, without slowing down or stopping to check on the victims.
Officers went looking for the suspect's car and found it in a Kwik Trip parking lot. Rubenzer and Collingwood were inside the gas station and initially told police they walked there. However, an officer quickly found a piece of the victim's car that had "punctured all the way through the driver's side door" of Rubenzer's car.
Both men appeared to be intoxicated, court filings said. Investigators said Rubenzer tried to get away when police arrested him, and Collingwood and drugs on his person at the time. Police also said Rubenzer refused field sobriety tests, a breath test and a blood draw. When officers got a warrant, they found he was nearly three times the legal limit to drive a car.
The Source: Information in this story is from the Waukesha Police Department, Waukesha County District Attorney's Office and Wisconsin Circuit Court.