Wisconsin woman was too drunk to drive, so police offered her a free ride home. Then she slipped her cuffs and grabbed an AR-15

What started as an attempt to help an intoxicated Wisconsin woman get home safely turned into a dangerous struggle after she managed to slip out of her handcuffs and grab the barrel of a patrol rifle inside a police cruiser.

According to Motor Biscuit, the incident happened on May 3, 2024, in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and recently went viral after police body-camera footage from the encounter was posted across social media.

The footage shows how a routine welfare check went off the rails in less than half an hour, eventually leading to a criminal case and a sentence that has drawn plenty of criticism online.

She was allegedly on her way to her ex-boyfriend

The incident began shortly before 2:00 p.m. when a concerned man contacted the Sun Prairie Police Department about his 37-year-old mother. He told officers that she had been drinking alcohol “shooters,” had stopped responding to his texts, and had driven her Ford Escape to the home of an ex-boyfriend.

Officers found the woman on Broadway Drive. They noted that she appeared heavily intoxicated and was stumbling. Her vehicle keys were also sitting right beside her inside the SUV.

Instead of arresting her for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated (OWI), the officer handling the contact decided to give her a ride home. Since officers had not actually seen her driving on a public road, they did not have direct evidence of her operating the vehicle while intoxicated. The officer offered to take her home instead.

The woman agreed. As part of the safety precautions for transporting her, officers placed her in handcuffs with her hands behind her back and put her in the rear compartment of the police cruiser.

Things changed as soon as the squad car doors closed. The woman started screaming, thrashing around and demanding to be let out. Then the situation became a much bigger problem when she shouted, “Open the motherf***ing door… I got the nozzle out of the gun!”

She managed to work her hands out of the handcuffs and forced open the sliding glass partition separating the rear passenger area from the front of the cruiser.

She then reached through the opening and grabbed the barrel of a department-issued AR-15 rifle mounted near the front dashboard. The officer driving the cruiser stopped immediately as backup officers rushed toward the vehicle, shouting commands before pulling the woman out onto the pavement.

Getting her out of the cruiser did not end the struggle. Officers had to hold her down and put the restraints back on as she continued kicking and yelling. Police said she also directed racial slurs and other threats at officers during the confrontation, which lasted for about an hour.

She pleaded no contest

During the booking process, an officer administered a preliminary breath test. The test showed a blood alcohol concentration of .327%, more than four times Wisconsin’s legal driving limit.

The woman eventually pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges. A judge sentenced her to five days in the Dane County Jail.

The sentence has since drawn criticism online, particularly because of how close the encounter came to involving a loaded police rifle. The body-camera footage has continued circulating as viewers debate whether the original decision to give her a ride home should have ended differently.