Police: Man Fights Officers After Boat Rescue

During last week's hard rain, police say a Milwaukee man ignored signs closing County Line road, and he got stuck. The situation got progressively worse from there.

Eddie Keaton, 32, was charged in Racine County Circuit Court Monday with two felony counts of resisting an officer, causing a soft tissue injury and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct. If convicted, he faces up to 12 years, 3 months in jail and/or up to $21,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint, Caledonia police responded at 9:30 p.m. Friday to reports of a car stuck in the water on County Line Road east of Nicholson Road. Officers could only get within 60 yards of the vehicle so they called the Caledonia Fire Department for a boat to rescue the driver, later identified as the defendant.

Firefighters reported to officers they smelled intoxicants on Keaton's breath and that the inside of his car smelled of marijuana. Police reported that Keaton's eyes were relatively clear and that he didn't have slurred speech, but they put him through field sobriety tests anyway to try and determine what caused him to drive through the water, the complaint reads.

While officers were patting Keaton down before taking him to a squad car, he became combative, refusing to put his hands down to his sides, yelling and cursing at police. When police tried to gain control of the defendant, he pulled on another officer, causing them to fall, and continued to resist. Finally, an officer pulled their taser and pressed it against Keaton's back.

He announced he was "done" and was successfully taken into custody and transported to the Racine County Jail where he remains on a $500 cash bond. Keaton's next court date is May 2.