Joan Koehne, jkoehne@octimesherald.com
A Neenah man faces homicide charges after his friend was killed Saturday when the pickup truck they were in crashed into a tree.
Zachary J.E. Romnek, 19, was charged on Tuesday in Oconto County Circuit Court with homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle for the death of Thorton Lee Gressler, 19, of Bonduel, a back-seat passenger. Gressler was pronounced dead at the scene.
Tests showed Romnek’s blood alcohol level to be 0.11 percent. Wisconsin’s legal limit is 0.08.
According to a criminal complaint, Romnek was standing on top of his Dodge Ram pickup when an Oconto County sheriff’s deputy arrived at 2:45 a.m. at County Road W in Riverview, south of Martha Lane. The vehicle was approximately 15 feet off the road, resting on its driver’s side in the south ditch against a large tree.
Romnek told deputies he had been drinking with friends at Diamond Dave’s in Crooked Lake and decided to travel to Pipeline, an area north of Crooked Lake where trucks drive off road. He said he was driving about 35 mph when he lost control on icy roads.
According to the criminal complaint, two passengers in the truck left the scene before authorities arrived. A mother of a female passenger said her daughter had been injured and went for treatment at a hospital. A male passenger contacted by the Sheriff’s Department told deputies he was sore but uninjured. He said they left the scene because they were “scared of getting in trouble for drinking,” according to the complaint.
Romnek was released from the Oconto County Jail on Tuesday after a $5,000 cash bond was met. He is scheduled for a continued initial appearance on April 10.
If convicted of the homicide charge, Romnek could be sentenced to 25 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. He was also charged with operating a motor vehicle while suspended-cause death, which carries a maximum sentence of six years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.