A man who admitted to going in the ditch while texting behind the wheel also picked up a 6th OWI.
It was just before 5 on Saturday afternoon when a WI State Patrol Trooper responded to a report of a vehicle which had run into the ditch on CTH O at Fire Lane Road. When the Trooper arrived on scene he found the operator, 57 year old Christopher Arthur Thannum, uninjured and standing outside of his vehicle. The vehicle had no damage. Thannum admitted he had gone into the ditch because he had been texting and driving.
The Trooper noticed the odor of intoxicants coming from Thannum along with other visible signs of impairment. Standardized field sobriety tests were administered and Thannum was subsequently placed under arrest for OWI 6th offense. He was later incarcerated at the Rusk County jail where he has been charged with OWI 6th, bail jumping, texting while driving, open intoxicants in a motor vehicle, and failure to have control of a motor vehicle.
