7th OWI Charges Follow Erratic Driving Near Brookfield Square

A 46-year-old Milwaukee man faces his seventh drunken driving charge after taking his daughter’s vehicle and driving erratically near Brookfield Square Mall, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.

Mark Stojanovic faces up to 14-1/2 years initial confinement in prison and $35,000 in fines if convicted of operating while intoxicated-seventh offense and operating a vehicle with an owner’s consent. He remains jailed in lieu of $25,000 bail.

Stojanovic was pulled over after a citizen called police April 8 after she saw his vehicle swerving near the mall. Later, she told police, he appeared to fall asleep but eventually continued driving and swerving, nearly hitting a mailbox and weaving toward a mother and her daughter who were walking on Hillside Road in Elm Grove, according to the complaint.

Elm Grove police officers pulled over Stojanovic’s vehicle at Gebhardt Road and Pilgrim Parkway and as they were speaking with him, they noted he had watery, glassy eyes and he smelled like alcoholic beverages, the complaint states.

The police officers found empty beer cans on the floor of the vehicle and he told police he consumed “about four beer,” the complaint states. Stojanovic was on his way to a mental health facility, he told officers, because he wasn’t feeling “good” lately.

Police officers attempted to lead Stojanovic through a series of field sobriety tests, however, they had difficulty with him following their directions. When they asked him to complete a leg stand, he lost his balance and said “I can’t do it,” the complaint states.

Stojanovic had a .18 percent blood alcohol concentration and was arrested for his seventh drunken driving offense, the complaint states. A forced blood draw was taken while Stojanovic was agitated and flailing his body.

The car was listed to Stojanovic’s brother, who told police the car was for Stojanovic’s daughter’s future use but was still registered to his name because the daughter did not have a valid license. The daughter told police officers she had been in an argument with her father because he demanded the keys to the vehicle. Stojanovic left with the vehicle without his brother’s or his daughter’s permission, according to the complaint. There was also fresh damage on the car, which hadn’t been on the vehicle before Stojanovic took it.

Stojanovic was convicted of drunken driving in 1989, 1990, 1994, 2000, 2003 and 2009.