DA DECIDES AGAINST FELONY IN FATAL CRASH

Man Accused Of Smoking Pot Was Not Directly At Fault, Bucher Concludes

Waukesha - A man was driving with marijuana in his system when his sport
utility vehicle collided with a car whose driver died, according to a
criminal complaint.

The district attorney's office concluded, however, that Jason Thresher, 21,
of Menomonee Falls was not directly at fault in the Feb. 16 fatal crash
that killed Jacqueline Wallschlaeger, a local Little League Mother of the Year.

Rather than charging Thresher with operating while intoxicated by drugs or
with a negligent homicide charge, District Attorney Paul Bucher charged
Thresher this week with two misdemeanors: possession of marijuana and
paraphernalia police say they found in his SUV after the crash.

Bucher said the case illustrates the need for uniform statewide standards
that would allow prosecutors to issue drugged-driving charges, much as they
now do for drunken driving.

Bucher said he could not prove the marijuana Thresher told police he smoked
in the 16 hours before the crash had been enough to impair his driving.

And the accident investigation showed that Wallschlaeger, 38, a Menomonee
Falls single mother with one son, might have failed to stop at a stop sign
at Schlei and Town Line roads in Menomonee Falls, Bucher said.

But Bucher said he believes that the marijuana Thresher allegedly smoked
also played a role in the crash. The problem is determining how much of a role.

Bucher has pushed for the creation of impairment levels for drugs, much
like the 0.10 blood-alcohol level for alcohol. Failing that, he said, there
should be a law barring motorists from driving with any amounts of illicit
drugs in their system.

Toxicologists have said that it may not be possible to set true scientific
impairment levels for every drug because, unlike alcohol, illicit and
prescription drugs affect people differently.

Thresher's case marks the second time this year that Bucher has charged a
driver in a fatal crash with drug offenses rather than more serious crimes.

In January, Bucher charged Kelly Pfau, 28, of Milwaukee with possession of
a controlled substance - OxyContin - without a prescription.

Prosecutors say blood tests showed that Pfau had the drugs oxycodone and
methadone in her system when she was driving a Jeep that was struck by
another vehicle, whose driver was ticketed by police for failing to yield
the right of way.

Pfau's boyfriend and passenger, David Carrao, 28, of West Allis, died of
injuries from the rollover crash. At the time, Pfau was on probation for a
July 2000 conviction for being party to possession with intent to deliver
marijuana.

According to the criminal complaint filed this week in the Thresher case:

Thresher was driving a GMC Jimmy north on Town Line Road about 12:30 p.m.
Feb. 16 when his vehicle collided with a Pontiac Sunbird driven west on
Schlei Road by Wallschlaeger.

Wallschlaeger apparently didn't stop at a stop sign, and her car crashed
into the Jimmy, Bucher said. Wallschlaeger and Thresher's sister, who was a
passenger in the Jimmy, were both thrown from their vehicles.

Wallschlaeger died at the scene. Thresher's sister, 22, was treated and
released from an area hospital.

Thresher told police that he had smoked marijuana at 8 p.m. the previous
night and again at 4:30 a.m. that morning, about eight hours before the
crash, the complaint says.