Wisconsin’s Police Union Leader Cited for Drunk Driving

The leader of Wisconsin’s largest police union was cited for drunken driving last week after he left his apartment to help another union employee who had crashed her car into a shed, according to police reports obtained Monday.

The Associated Press reports that James L. Palmer II, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, faces one count of first offense driving while under the influence, a traffic violation akin to speeding. He issued a statement Monday saying he regrets his actions.

"I am ashamed at this deplorable exercise of poor judgment, and I accept total responsibility," he said. "I offer my sincere apology to my family, friends, members, and co-workers, and commit that this will never happen again."

According to State Patrol and Columbia County Sheriff’s reports, WPPA Finance Director Jean O. Steinhauer missed a turn in southern Columbia County around 1:50 a.m. on Dec. 19. She drove across a driveway into a ditch and through a snowbank before she smashed into the shed, knocking it off its foundation.

A sheriff’s deputy arrived about 30 minutes later and found a state trooper already there. Steinhauer was in the back of the trooper’s squad car and Palmer was standing near the crashed car, the deputy’s report said.

Palmer told the deputy that Steinhauer had called him within the last hour and said she had gone off the road. He left his Sun Prairie apartment and found her about five minutes before the state trooper arrived.

Palmer said in an e-mail that Steinhauer told him she was lost, stuck, and frightened. He went out to see if he could help her, not knowing she had hit a shed. He said police arrived on the scene almost immediately after he did.

The deputy smelled alcohol on Palmer and noticed his eyes were bloodshot, the deputy’s report said.

Palmer said he had been drinking at the High Noon Saloon in Madison about three hours earlier, adding Steinhauer had been with him, the report said. Palmer said he had three drinks of scotch.

According to the reports, preliminary breath tests showed Palmer’s blood-alcohol content was 0.146 percent and Steinhauer’s was 0.15 percent, both well above Wisconsin’s 0.08 percent limit for driving. Palmer was cited on Dec. 21, according to online court records.

State Patrol Lt. Brad Altman said his agency has referred citations for driving under the influence and operating with a prohibited alcohol level of 0.10 percent or more — both first offenses — failure to stop for a stop sign and having an expired registration against Steinhauer to Columbia County prosecutors.