Waukesha Man Crashes Into Tree, Spits in Cop's Face

A Waukesha man is facing multiple charges after he crashed into a tree Saturday while driving drunk, then spit in the face of a police officer.

Christopher Barber, 30, was charged in t on Monday with one count of third offense operating while intoxicated, one count of second-plus-offense OWI while causing injury, one count of operating a motor vehicle after revocation of his license, one count of resisting an officer and one count of discharging bodily fluids at a public safety officer. If convicted, he faces up to 12 years in prison and $34,500 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint:

At 2:20 a.m. Saturday, police were called to West College Avenue and Waverly Place on report of a car accident. When they arrived, they found Barber laying the ground being tended to by EMS workers. His vehicle had extensive front end damage.

A witness said he was dropping people off at the sidewalk when Barber passed him at a high rate of speed. Barber tried to make a sharp lane change, causing Barber to lose control of his vehicle, slam into a tree and do three circles before coming to a stop. Barber was ejected from the vehicle during the accident and a female passenger emerged after it came to a halt.

Barber told police he had three beers before driving and shouldn’t have been driving at all. He was taken to Waukesha Memorial Hospital for a blood test, but was unable to perform field sobriety tests.

Barber was cleared to leave the hospital but became belligerent with staff for taking routine procedural steps to discharge him, so he began to thrash. Police told him to stop resisting, which caused Barber to kick harder and then spit in an officer’s face who was trying to hold him down.

It took six to eight officers to hold Barber down, who was then placed in a restraint chair and taken to Waukesha County Jail.

Barber was previously convicted of drunken driving in 2002 and 2011. He’s currently being held on $25,000 cash bail.