Sober woman arrested for drunk driving after deputy falsifies report
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Things went from bad to worse for one Wisconsin woman after a sheriff's deputy ran a stop sign and T-boned her car.
In February 2013, Tanya Weyker's car was hit by Milwaukee County Sheriff's Deputy Joseph Quiles, resulting in her neck being broken in four places. Although she was sober (blood tests later confirmed this), Weyker was arrested for drunk driving, and Quiles filed a police report stating that he had come to a complete stop and the accident was Weyker's fault. Even after the tests came back proving Weyker hadn't been drunk, and surveillance camera footage was released showing Quiles not stopping at the stop sign, the county still demanded that Weyker pay for damages from the accident.
It took five more months, but Weyker's case finally went to the DA's office, where a prosecutor decided not to file charges. No one bothered to call Weyker, however, just like no one bothered to reprimand Quiles for falsifying police reports (he admitted that he was at fault for the accident once the surveillance tape surfaced). More than a year later, Weyker is still waiting for the county to pay her expensive medical bills. Quiles hasn't worked since the crash, and — despite apparently suffering minimal harm in the crash he caused — has filed for permanent duty disability. Weyker isn't giving up easily; she told Fox 6 Milwaukee: "I knew I was innocent this whole time.... A lot of people are too afraid to stick up for themselves against someone in such high power."
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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