Scott Farmer appears in Waupaca County Court Dec. 26, 2023. (Image courtesy Waupaca County Courts/Zoom)
WAUPACA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The suspect in the drunken driving crash which killed four siblings has pleaded not guilty to four traffic citations which were also issued in the case.
Scott Farmer, 47, has been charged with six criminal counts, including four of homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle, in connection with the Dec. 16 crash which killed Daniel, Fabian, Lilian and Daniela Gonzalez. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 23.
In addition to those criminal charges, the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Department issued Farmer four traffic citations: possessing open intoxicants in a vehicle, reckless driving, driving the wrong way on a divided highway, and speeding on an expressway.
Written not guilty pleas were submitted Thursday, court records show. A Feb. 20 court date was scheduled.
According to the criminal complaint, police were called to a report of a wrong-way driver on Highway 10, near County X, in Weyauwega. The crash happened at about 9:15 p.m. on Dec. 16.
Farmer’s truck was travelling westbound in the eastbound lane, and crashed into the other vehicle. Three people in the crash died at the scene, a fourth victim died later at the hospital.
A medic told police there was a large bottle of vodka by Farmer. While in the ambulance, Farmer was asked how much he had to drink, to which he replied, “A lot.” When asked what day it was, he responded Feb. 12. When asked how fast he was driving, he replied “(Expletive) 75.”
If convicted, it would be Farmer’s fifth OWI conviction after previous offenses of Oct. 6, 1999; Sept. 18, 2001; Nov. 29, 2006; and Dec. 18, 2019. His driver’s license was revoked at the time of the crash.
Also, because of the previous convictions, his legal blood alcohol content limit for driving would be .02, instead of .08.
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