Lizard
May 13th, 2008, 03:53 AM
WI - Police are seeking a fifth-offense drunken driving charge against Kendall W. Ludin, 47, who went on an alcohol-fueled demolition spree Sunday night that ended when he crashed his pickup truck into an apartment occupied by four adults and a child.
"Mommy, there's a truck in the living room," Charles Curtis Jr., 4, told his mother, Ashley Curtis, 24, once the dust settled in their apartment.
According to court records, Ludin has four previous drunken driving convictions and a history of felony convictions as well.
In April 2003, he was convicted of his fourth drunken driving offense, a misdemeanor, and fleeing an officer, a felony, for a September 2002 case that included him leading police on a high-speed chase. Speeds reached 115 mph, according to a criminal complaint.
He was sentenced to 21 months in prison and two years of extended supervision and had his license revoked for three years on those charges.
Other felony convictions include criminal damage to property in 1995 and felon in possession of a firearm in April 2007, for which he was sentenced to eight months in jail.
The series of events that led to the pickup in the living room started around 10:15 p.m. when Ludin tailgated a car driven by Katie Moder then sideswiped her vehicle as he went around her.
"I didn't know if he was drunk or crazy," Moder said. "He wasn't swerving or anything. He was just extremely aggressive."
Moder followed Ludin's pickup truck and relayed his license plate number to her mother on her cell phone.
Moder called police when she got home but was told it would be some time before police could get back to her because a serious car accident had just occurred.
That accident turned out to involve Ludin.
While Moder went home, Ludin went to a local tavern but was immediately kicked out for being too intoxicated.
Ludin got back into his truck and continued east on Highway 60 until he turned north onto Ridgeway Drive, traveling about 80 mph.
Soon, the truck left the roadway, sideswiped a parked truck and traveled across about 50 feet of lawn before hitting the southwest corner of the building, entering the bedroom of Gerald Faust. The truck passed through the bedroom into the apartment's living room, where its occupants - Faust; Ashley Curtis and her son; Jennifer Shelly, 21; and Jeff Kreckel, 26 - were "horsing around," Faust said.
Faust said on most nights at that time, he is in bed. "But I'm glad I wasn't. Ashley was sitting on the couch, and the next thing you know, we had a truck parked in our living room."
Faust was hit in the back by plaster and glass and suffered minor injuries. He was treated and released.
Christina Duris, who lives in a second-floor apartment above Faust's, said they were lucky that a truck, and not a shorter car, entered the apartment. That's because the truck's cab held up her apartment's floor after the crash.
Faust said the truck driver tried to put the truck into reverse and get the truck out of the building, but two neighbors stopped him.
Ludin had some scratches but escaped serious injury, police said.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=749857
"Mommy, there's a truck in the living room," Charles Curtis Jr., 4, told his mother, Ashley Curtis, 24, once the dust settled in their apartment.
According to court records, Ludin has four previous drunken driving convictions and a history of felony convictions as well.
In April 2003, he was convicted of his fourth drunken driving offense, a misdemeanor, and fleeing an officer, a felony, for a September 2002 case that included him leading police on a high-speed chase. Speeds reached 115 mph, according to a criminal complaint.
He was sentenced to 21 months in prison and two years of extended supervision and had his license revoked for three years on those charges.
Other felony convictions include criminal damage to property in 1995 and felon in possession of a firearm in April 2007, for which he was sentenced to eight months in jail.
The series of events that led to the pickup in the living room started around 10:15 p.m. when Ludin tailgated a car driven by Katie Moder then sideswiped her vehicle as he went around her.
"I didn't know if he was drunk or crazy," Moder said. "He wasn't swerving or anything. He was just extremely aggressive."
Moder followed Ludin's pickup truck and relayed his license plate number to her mother on her cell phone.
Moder called police when she got home but was told it would be some time before police could get back to her because a serious car accident had just occurred.
That accident turned out to involve Ludin.
While Moder went home, Ludin went to a local tavern but was immediately kicked out for being too intoxicated.
Ludin got back into his truck and continued east on Highway 60 until he turned north onto Ridgeway Drive, traveling about 80 mph.
Soon, the truck left the roadway, sideswiped a parked truck and traveled across about 50 feet of lawn before hitting the southwest corner of the building, entering the bedroom of Gerald Faust. The truck passed through the bedroom into the apartment's living room, where its occupants - Faust; Ashley Curtis and her son; Jennifer Shelly, 21; and Jeff Kreckel, 26 - were "horsing around," Faust said.
Faust said on most nights at that time, he is in bed. "But I'm glad I wasn't. Ashley was sitting on the couch, and the next thing you know, we had a truck parked in our living room."
Faust was hit in the back by plaster and glass and suffered minor injuries. He was treated and released.
Christina Duris, who lives in a second-floor apartment above Faust's, said they were lucky that a truck, and not a shorter car, entered the apartment. That's because the truck's cab held up her apartment's floor after the crash.
Faust said the truck driver tried to put the truck into reverse and get the truck out of the building, but two neighbors stopped him.
Ludin had some scratches but escaped serious injury, police said.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=749857