Saukville man charged with perjury after crash on I-43

By BILL SCHANEN IV

Ozaukee Press staff

A 37-year-old Saukville man accused of lying about using the ignition interlock device on his BMW before crashing the car on I-43 while intoxicated in December has been charged in Ozaukee County Circuit Court with perjury.

Konstantinos Kalpakidis was also charged on Feb. 2 with third-offense operating a vehicle with a controlled substance in his blood and tampering with an ignition interlock device.

Kalpakidis was arrested on Saturday, Dec. 4, after officers who had been alerted to an erratic driver found his 2010 BMW crashed on the right southbound shoulder of I-43 in Mequon at about 12:15 p.m.

The car was unoccupied, but footsteps led from it toward the nearby Marcus North Shore Cinema and an officer spotted Kalpakidis in a swampy area near the theater.

Kalpakidis ignored the officer’s orders to stop, but looked at him with a “1,000-yard stare,” which the officer said is indicative of someone who is under the influence of drugs or intoxicants or is having emotional problems, according to a criminal complaint.

Because Kalpakidis would not stop, an officer tased him and he was handcuffed and arrested.

Officers said Kalpakidis struggled to maintain his balance and get his feet into a squad car. Once inside the vehicle, he laid down and at one point smashed his head against the rear passenger window in what an officer interpreted as frustration over being taken to jail, the complaint states.

At the Sheriff’s Office, Kalpakidis vomited during field sobriety tests, which were terminated for fear he wold fall and hurt himself.

He appeared in court on Dec. 14, and during a hearing before Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Steve Cain Kalpakidis testified under oath that on the day of the accident he had to blow into the ignition interlock device on his car to start it, then was prompted to blow into it four or five additional times while driving, according to the complaint.

But records from the provider of the ignition interlock device indicated it was not working on the day of the accident because of a “circumvention violation” and Kalpakidis’ failure to have it serviced, and no breath samples were taken, the complaint states.

Those records also indicated the device had not been working properly since July 16, according to the complaint.

During a court hearing last week, Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Paul Malloy ruled that Kalpakidis could be released from jail on a $10,000 signature bond.

Also during that hearing, Kalpakidis’ lawyer, Charles Blumenfield, said he planned to file a motion to dismiss the perjury charge.

Perjury is a felony punishable by a maximum three years in prison and three years of extended supervision, but because Kalpakidis is charged as a repeat offender the maximum prison sentence may be increased by two years.