This article was originally published by The Badger Project, a citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.

A deputy for the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office is facing charges after he was booked for drinking and driving last month.

Daniel Matuszak, 34, has been a deputy for the sheriff’s office since 2022, according to the county’s human resources department. He makes about $42 an hour. He will be on administrative leave pending the outcome of his traffic and criminal cases, said James Gumm, a top official in the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office who holds the title of inspector.

The responding deputy observed a “moderate odor of consumed intoxicants coming from the vehicle and observed that the defendant had slow motor functions and responses,” the complaint reads.

Matuszak now has two pending first-offense, non-criminal citations: one for operating with a prohibited alcohol concentration between 0.08 and 0.15, and the second for an OWI.

“It’s standard practice” to charge suspected drunk drivers with both citations, Waukesha Police Capt. Dan Baumann wrote in an email to The Badger Project.

The OWI charge relates to the level of actual impairment, and the blood alcohol charge zeroes in on the results of the chemical test, Baumann said. Waukesha County District Attorney Lesli Boese noted that while the results of a blood test might be under the legal limit, say 0.06, the driver could still be illegally impaired.

“Importantly, this is not double punishment,” Baumann wrote. “Under state law, a person can only be convicted and sentenced on one of these offenses. Charging both simply provides two legal paths to reach the same outcome.”

Matuszak is also facing a criminal misdemeanor for operating a firearm while intoxicated, because police found two rifles and a loaded handgun with a bullet in the chamber behind the driver’s seat and within arm’s reach, according to the criminal complaint.

An officer for the City of Waukesha Police Department, called to assist in the investigation, conducted field sobriety tests. Matuszak misstepped during the walk and turn test and swayed during the single-leg stand test, according to the report. The result of Matuszak’s preliminary blood test was 0.12. The legal limit in Wisconsin is 0.08.

“At this time, it is an ongoing criminal case, so we don’t have any comment,” Gumm wrote in an email. “I am open to discussing more specifics and making comment at the conclusion of the case, though.”

Matuszak is no longer working with his original attorney, and the county courthouse told The Badger Project that he hasn’t notified them of a new one.

He has since pleaded not guilty to each charge, a common tactic to initiate negotiations between the defense attorney and the prosecutor. His next court date is scheduled for June 24.

The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.

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Waukesha Co Sheriff’s deputy arrested for drunk driving