Reprinted from the GazetteXtra:
Police say intoxicated missing UW-L student found in car after search
By MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE Saturday, March 27, 2010 - 9 p.m.
Mar. 27--La Crosse police searched for more than five hours today before they found a missing 22-year-old University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student who had been last seen at 1 a.m. leaving the State Room bar downtown.
A police officer found Justin Hoard, of 302 N. 10th St., asleep in a car in a parking lot at 1003 Zeisler St. at about 9 a.m. Police said he had vomited outside the car and crawled into it to sleep.
He was awakened and submitted to a preliminary breath test that showed his blood-alcohol level to be about 0.09 percent. Based on that result at 9 a.m., his level at the time he left the bar would have been 0.21 percent, police said. The legal limit for driving is 0.08 percent.
Hoard told officers he had been drinking at a number of bars before going to the State Room, and did not remember going there. He left to walk home, became disoriented and could not find his residence, police said. Police started searching for him after receiving a missing-person report about 3:20 a.m.
Hoard was cited for disorderly conduct and also received a public intoxication warning, which requires him to attend a class.
In a press release, Police Chief Edward Kondracki said he wished Hoard could be charged with more because his drunken behavior had a huge negative impact on family, friends and the community.
Police called in three off-duty detectives and held over some third-shift personnel to help search for Hoard.
4 comments:
At least he was found safe and sound. I wonder if that car was even his???
I'm sure his loved ones are relieved.
I'm so glad to have a happy ending!
It is refreshing to see a missing student end up being okay.
It would be really helpful if LaCrosse bartenders learned to cut students off from drinking when they appear intoxicated. This is standard procedure in many places. Bartenders will get cited for over-serving.
It would be easier to patrol bartenders rather than all of the students.
There have been cases of bars refusing entry to intoxicated persons, which has resulted in the person to wander off and result in death (recent case in Mount Pleasant, MI for example) so that is not always the answer.
I am glad he was found safe. One key here is that he does not remember going to the last bar he was reportedly at, that he became disoriented. This offers support to theory that some of these men are not in fact abducted but rather very intoxicated and don't quite know what they are doing.
Perhaps education for both the young men as well as bartenders is the key. A "two drink" maximum per establishment. Like that would ever work tho! Think of the money lost!
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