Independent Wisconsin State Rep. Jeffrey Wood was arrested on Oct. 22 for the third time in less than a year on suspicion of driving under the influence. A squad car video released Tuesday shows Wood stumbling and falling over during a sobriety test.
Now a legislative aide tells TPM that Wood is entering an intense inpatient rehabilitation program — even while his colleagues, for the first time in Wisconsin’s history, have formed a committee to consider expelling Wood.
In a phone interview this morning, legislative aide Jessica Spotts-Grabel told me that Wood is spending today “doing intake for a rehabilitation program, a more intensive program.” It’s a 30- to 45-day inpatient program.
Spotts-Grabel said Wood was in an outpatient program last December, and an inpatient rehab program at the end of last month.
She confirmed that he’s not seeking reelection, but wouldn’t comment on whether he’d resign.
“The representative is working on recovering,” she said.
In the squad car video, Wood is pulled over after he swerves through the road and drives into a curb. An officer later asks Wood to walk in a straight line. The state rep stumbles and falls to the ground. Officers later take a bottle of pills from his pocket.
“Whatever you’re on though is impairing you, and you’re a danger to other people,” one of the officers says in the video.
Wood was first elected to the state assembly in 2002, and has been re-elected every election cycle since. He turned 40 in September, and is married with three children. Before becoming a full-time legislator, he served in the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserve, owned a small business and was a local government reporter, according to his website. He’s also a former member of the Libertarian Party of the Chippewa Valley.
Here’s the arrest video:
