Man on motorized barstool gets drunk driving charge

Monday, March 30, 2009 1:53 PM
Updated: Monday, March 30, 2009 05:30 PM
By Randy Ludlow

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Gerrit Konink was sitting in his living room around dinnertime earlier this month when he heard somebody down the street fire up what he thought was a lawnmower.

He figured one of his neighbors was getting a jump on his mowing.

It was nothing that routine. Instead, it was a motorized barstool.

Out his window, the 66-year-old Konink then saw someone, on something, buzz down Kelley Lane in Newark.

"I knew it was something strange, and then it was gone," he said. "It was too fast."

Newark police say that Konink saw a neighbor riding a motorized barstool shortly before the man wrecked while trying to make a U-turn.

Police say that Kile Wygle, 28, had one too many for the road before wheeling his homemade oddity around the neighborhood on March 4.

Wygle was charged with driving the barstool while under the influence of alcohol and driving while under suspension. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and asked for a jury trial. No court date has been set.

According to a report by Officer Michael Trotter, Wygle told him that his barstool can reach a speed of 38 mph but that he was traveling only about 20 mph when he wrecked.

At Licking Memorial Hospital, where Wygle was treated for minor injuries, he chuckled about his barstool. Wygle told Trotter that he'd had about 15 beers before the wreck. The man refused to take a blood-alcohol test.

When Trotter informed Wygle that he was investigating a traffic crash, Wygle reportedly replied that he wasn't driving a vehicle - he was driving a barstool.

The man's ride consisted of a barstool with padded seat welded to a frame that also contained a five-horsepower motorcycle engine that operated a chain drive attached to a rear wheel. A lawnmower steering wheel turned the front wheels.

Wygle could not be reached for comment and his lawyer, Andrew Sanderson of Newark, did not return telephone calls. Newark police did not announce the unusual arrest until today.

Barstool racing appears popular in Wisconsin and other parts of the country, and motorized barstools are available for purchase online.

State law prohibits the operation of any kind of motorized vehicle, excluding wheelchairs and mobility scooters, while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to the State Highway Patrol.