Driver in crash that injured teen charged with felony

A 43-year-old Town of Fredonia woman who rear-ended a tractor and seriously injuring its 17-year-old driver, told authorities she drank six beers at a Saukville bar before the Tuesday night, Feb. 2, crash in the Town of Fredonia, according to a criminal complaint filed in Ozaukee County Circuit Court.

A preliminary blood test showed Franchesca M. Bell had a blood alcohol level of .182, more than twice the legal limit of .08. Because Bell has previously been convicted of an operating while intoxicated-related offense, the legal limit for her is .02, the complaint states.

Bell is charged with a felony count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing injury-second offense and misdemeanor counts of operating with a revoked driver’s license and failing to install an ignition interlock device.

At 8:07 p.m. on Feb. 2, an Ozaukee County sheriff’s deputy responded to a report of a crash on Highway I south of Shady Lane to find an off-duty officer attending to the teenage driver of the tractor, who was conscious but very disoriented. The teenager had to be held still to prevent him from aggravating his already-significant injuries, according to the complaint.

Bell, who told a deputy she should not have been driving because her license is suspended, said she had been at the d’Klein bar in Saukville for karaoke night and was driving her Ford Escape south on Highway I and did not see the southbound tractor in front of her before hitting it, the complaint states.

The deputy said Bell smelled of alcohol, her eyes were glassy and her pupils were dilated. When the deputy told her that he would need to conduct sobriety tests to determine if she was able to drive safely, Bell responded, “I was not.”

When he asked her if she agreed to perform the tests, Bell said, “I already failed this,” which she did, according to the complaint.

Interviewed at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, the tractor driver said he left work at 7:30 p.m. and was driving home when he noticed a vehicle approaching him quickly from behind. He suffered a head laceration and concussion and had lost consciousness, the complaint states.

Bell was convicted of operating a vehicle with a prohibited alcohol level in October. Her driver’s license was revoked for eight months, and she was ordered to have an ignition interlock device on her vehicle for a year. That device was not installed on the vehicle she was driving at the time of the crash.

Bell has been released from jail in lieu of $1,500 bail and was ordered by Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Steve Cain to maintain absolute sobriety and not operate motor vehicles without a driver’s license and without ignition interlock devices installed.