CF man sentenced to prison for sixth drunk-driving offense

CHIPPEWA FALLS — A Chippewa Falls man has been sentenced to serve 18 months in prison after he was convicted of his sixth drunk-driving offense, as he also struck a Lake Hallie squad car in January.

Tobias Bash, 40, 815 W. Park Ave., pleaded no contest last week in Chippewa County Court to OWI-6th offense and hit-and-run.

Judge Benjamin Lane ordered the 18-month prison sentence, along with three years of extended supervision. However, Bash was given credit for 202 days already served. Bash also must pay $6,040 in restitution, a $463 fine, and a $100 victim surcharge. Two other charges were read-in and dismissed.

While on extended supervision, Bash cannot enter taverns or consume alcohol. He must take an alcohol treatment course, and his driver’s license was permanently revoked.

According to a press release from Lake Hallie Police Chief Edward Orgon, the agency received a traffic complaint at 11:30 a.m. Jan. 25 of a vehicle “weaving all over the road and striking a curb as it entered Walmart.”

An officer located the vehicle at the nearby Kwik Trip five minutes later.

“While the officer was speaking with the driver, Tobias Bash backed his SUV into the marked patrol squad and fled the scene,” Orgon wrote. “The officer pursued the vehicle down northbound Highway 124 onto 40th Avenue; then the vehicle made a circle through a neighborhood, coming back onto 40th Avenue where the officers were able to get the vehicle stopped and took Bash into custody.”

Officers detected the odor of intoxicants coming from the driver’s breath, was unsteady on his feet and his speech was slow and lethargic. Bash took a preliminary breath test, which showed a .23 blood-alcohol level, which is nearly three times the legal limit. He was taken to an area hospital for a blood draw, then to the Chippewa County Jail.

Online court records show Bash was convicted of his fifth drunk-driving offense in Eau Claire County Court in 2016 and he was ordered to serve six months in jail and three years on probation. Bash lived in Altoona at the time of the incident.