Repeat Drunk Driver Crashes, Van Bursts Into Flames

Oct 14, 2008 – Madison, WI
After drinking "all kinds of beer, shots and mixed drinks." At the Packer Inn, Donald Wiessinger was driving a borrowed van home just after bar time.

Unable to drive he bounced off parked cars and a telephone pole before police began to chase him. He eventually crashed into a tree on the 600 block of Cottage Grove Road where the van's front end burst into flames. Officers had to force entry into the vehicle, Wiessinger was unconscious with the doors locked.

Wiessinger is tentatively charged with drunken driving, fleeing and eluding an officer, operating after revocation of a license and several other traffic offenses. This will be legally considered his ninth drunken driving offense, though it would be his 15th lifetime. State law only counts drunken driving offenses that occurred in 1989 and after. He has been in jail 53 times since 1976

"Locking me up is not the answer," Wiessinger said in a recent interview at the Dane County Jail. "For some, it might work, but I still do the same thing over and over again. I don't expect to get caught. Eventually I'll drink again, and eventually I'll drive again."

Donald A. Wiessinger (50)