Waukesha man charged with homicide, drunken driving in crash

Dec. 04, 2009
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By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel

Dec. 04, 2009 0

Waukesha - Christopher M. Conner, 20, of Waukesha, was charged Friday with homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle stemming from an early morning crash Tuesday that killed passenger Michael Zippel, 23, of Vernon.

According to the criminal complaint, Conner told police at the scene that he had had five beers before driving off Cheri Ave. at Sunset View Drive in Vernon shortly before 2 a.m. Dec. 1. The car traveled down a ditch, became airborne and hit a large tree about 7 feet off the ground before coming to rest 300 feet from the tree, the complaint says.

Zippel, who was in the back seat, was thrown from the car and pronounced dead at the scene from internal injuries. Conner and passenger Lauren Thiesenhusen, 19, of Waukesha, were treated for minor injuries.

Judge J. Mac Davis set cash bail of $250,000 and scheduled a preliminary hearing for Dec. 10.

The felony carries punishment of up to 25 years in prison and up to $100,000 fine, plus loss of driving privileges for five years.

Conner was also charged with two misdemeanors - drunken driving causing injury, in connection with Thiesenhusen's injuries and possession of marijuana, which emergency personnel said they found on him as they transported him to a hospital.

About Laurel Walker
Laurel Walker covered local, school and county government for 20 years -- the last half of that at the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- before she was named Waukesha County columnist in 1997. Today she writes about the people, places and events around metropolitan Milwaukee with a broad suburban focus. She was the youngest of nine children raised on a central Wisconsin farm before leaving the nest for journalism studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a masters degree at the University of Oregon. She has spent the last half of her life in Waukesha County, where she and her husband raised two sons. Though she has a fondness for life in Waukesha, she eagerly partakes in the culture of the big city to the east and the recreation of the forests to the west. With sons in the arts, she has a special fondness for symphonic music concerts and art museums. She finds peace in a good book at a Northwoods getaway weekend, adventure in family visits to the east and west coasts, and satisfaction in a column well-written that reaches readers.
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