Officer Michaelyn Culligan Charged with OWI Still on Duty

MANITOWOC

A Manitowoc police officer who was sitting on the board of directors for the Wisconsin D.A.R.E. Officers Association when she was arrested earlier this month for drunken driving remains on duty, Manitowoc Police Chief Tony Dick said today.

Michaelyn Culligan, 40, was picked up around 9:30 p.m. March 2 in Two Rivers after her car got stuck in a snow bank at Mishicot Road and 44th Street, Manitowoc County Sheriff Rob Hermann said. Because her husband, Timothy Culligan, is a patrol officer with the Two Rivers Police Department, the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department was called in to handle the arrest.

To avoid any further conflicts of interest, the woman was transported to the Calumet County Jail. Hermann said today that he doesn’t have access to records showing Culligan’s blood alcohol content at the time of her arrest.

“Obviously this is a sad day for Manitowoc — for the citizens and also the other officers,” Dick said. “This is not the conduct that we would expect from one of our officers.”

Culligan works on the second-shift patrol division and was serving as a D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) officer for the Manitowoc Police Department at the time of her arrest. She remains on duty at the department while an internal investigation takes place, Dick said, but has been relieved of her D.A.R.E. duties. She also resigned from her post on the state D.A.R.E. board, he said.

“We’re going to let due process take it’s course, but until that happens there’s just no way that we feel that she could have legitimacy standing up in the front of a classroom teaching D.A.R.E.,” Dick said. “We don’t have any reports that lead us to believe this rises to the level where she shouldn’t be working at this point.”

If Culligan is convicted of drunken driving, Dick said that charge will be taken into consideration along with the results of the internal investigation to determine any disciplinary action. The department doesn’t have specific policies laying out punishment for officers convicted of operating while intoxicated.

“Our policy is more dealing with the general misbehaving,” he said. “We look at a lot of different things in general — more so than the criminal aspect or the violation of an ordinance would look at. In a case like this, we have to look at extenuating circumstances and we also have to look at what is right for the employer and the employee.”

Similar cases around the state have resulted in anything from a few days off work to officers quitting as a result of the investigation, Dick said. He declined to speculate on Culligan’s situation.

“When the internal investigation is done, we’ll take a look at all the factors … and put her on the right track,” he said. “She’ll be offered all the assistance that an employer would give an employee under similar circumstances.”

In the state of Wisconsin, a first-offense OWI conviction does not include jail time, but comes with a $150 to $300 fine, six- to nine-month license suspension and an alcohol assessment. An occupational driver’s license can be issued immediately, meaning Culligan legally could continue working as a patrol officer, even if convicted.

Culligan has been with the department since 1998.

“She’s a good officer — she did a lot to help our community through the years that she’s been here,” Dick said. “It’s just an unfortunate experience for her and also for all the officers. She’s a human being, and people make mistakes. I don’t think anyone feels worse than she does right now for what has happened.”