Leader Staff
Felony drunken driving charges were filed this week against a Hortonville man accused of crashing into a horse and buggy on Thanksgiving Day and seriously injuring two people.
Robert J. Egbert, 38, is charged with two counts of operating while intoxicated-causing injury and two counts of operating with a prohibited alcohol concentration-causing injury. He could face a maximum six years in prison and $10,000 fine on each of the counts if convicted.
Egbert allegedly had a blood-alcohol level of 0.19 percent — more than twice the legal limit — when authorities say he struck the buggy at County Road G and Gollnow Road in the town of Grant on Nov. 28.
Egbert told Shawano County sheriff’s deputies at the scene that he didn’t see the buggy until he struck it, according to the criminal complaint.
A 21-year old Marion woman who was a passenger in the buggy sustained a concussion and a head wound that took 12 staples to close, according to the complaint. The operator of the buggy, a 23-year-old Marion man, sustained contusions and abrasions.
It was allegedly Egbert’s third drunken driving offense, following two previous convictions in Outagamie County.
A man identifying himself as Egbert’s brother later arrived at the crash scene and told authorities they had been at a Thanksgiving Day gathering at their parents home. He said they tried to talk Egbert into staying the night because he had had “more than enough” to drink, but he wanted to go home.
Egbert is scheduled for an initial appearance in Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court on Tuesday.