A drunk driver who nearly hit Kamala Harris’ motorcade is making bail

A Milwaukee man was recently charged with driving the wrong way on Interstate 94 to Vice President Kamala Harris’ motorcade last week must remain sober while the criminal case against him is pending, a court commissioner ruled Wednesday.

Prosecutors say Wacker, 55, was drunk when he drove the wrong way on the interstate toward Harris’ motorcade after a campaign stop in Brookfield October 21. Wacker told police he had no idea Harris was in town and had no intention of harming her or anyone on the campaign trail, according to the criminal complaint, which his attorney, Julius Kim, emphasized.

“This is a terrible situation that Mr. Wacker has found himself in. It was not related to the fact that the vice president was in the city and in the motorcade,” said Kim. “He honestly had no idea the vice president was in town, much less that her motorcade was passing the highway at the time this incident occurred.”

Wacker is charged with second-degree reckless endangerment, a Class G felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

Magistrate Dewey B. Martin ordered Wacker to maintain absolute sobriety throughout the case. He also ordered Wacker to be monitored with portable breathalyzers and to wear a SCRAM wristband, a device that measures the amount of alcohol in a person’s sweat every half hour.

Wacker was held on $15,000 bail during a brief initial court appearance in Milwaukee on Wednesday. Wacker posted bail and was released.

The near miss came after a crash involving press buses chasing Harris’ vice presidential nominee Tim Waltz on his way to campaign stop in Milwaukee in September

Wacker was westbound eastbound between Marquette and 16th Street as Harris’ motorcade drove toward the lake before being stopped by a Milwaukee County sheriff’s deputy, according to an Oct. 25 criminal complaint.

He told police he was returning home after hanging out at Walker’s Point Bar, the complaint said. The document also states that Wacker’s blood alcohol content was 0.252, three times the legal limit in Wisconsin.

Footage of the incident was captured by a Wisconsin Department of Transportation dash cam, and the complaint alleges Wacker was passing other vehicles at “near highway speeds.”

A preliminary hearing in Wacker’s case is scheduled for Nov. 18.