CHARGED: Man accused of 12th OWI offense after deputy found his vehicle stuck in a snowy ditch

RACINE COUNTY (WITI) -- An Appleton man was arrested for his twelfth OWI offense after police found him stuck in a snowy ditch on Tuesday, February 3rd.

52-year-old Todd Lowery has been charged with OWI and operating a motor vehicle while revoked (OWI related).

Lowery has the following prior OWI convictions:

A criminal complaint filed against Lowery says shortly after 1:00 a.m. on February 3rd, a Racine County Sheriff's deputy on patrol, headed westbound on State Highway 11 near Gehrand Court in the Town of Yorkville came upon a vehicle stuck in the ditch on the south side of State Highway 11. The driver exited the vehicle and approached the squad car. That driver was identified as Todd Lowery.

The deputy observed Lowery stumbling into the eastbound lane of traffic. The deputy was forced to steady him and direct him to the shoulder of the road.

The complaint indicates the deputy observed a strong odor of intoxicants coming from Lowery's person, and his eyes were observed to be glassy and bloodshot.

Lowery told the deputy he was "just out for a drive" -- saying he had consumed alcohol, but he was "fine."

The deputy learned that Lowery had a passenger in his vehicle, who told the deputy Lowery had been driving, but Lowery told the deputy his passenger had been driving. The deputy observed that passenger also appeared to be intoxicated, though she told him she only had "one drink."

The complaint says Lowery told the deputy his passenger had driven the car into the ditch, and that "he was only trying to get the vehicle unstuck."

Lowery was taken to a patrol station to perform field sobriety testing because of the weather. A preliminary breath test registered at .22.

Lowery was also taken to the hospital for a blood draw. Those results are pending.

The complaint filed against Lowery says his driver's license has been revoked since July of 2004 as a result of a prior OWI conviction.