Sophie Carson

Fond du Lac Reporter

CAMPBELLSPORT - Sometimes in life, you’re forced to make a choice: get arrested, or get eaten alive by mosquitoes.

One Fond du Lac man chose handcuffs and the back of a squad car Tuesday after leading officers on a high-speed chase through Campbellsport before abandoning the car and running into a cornfield.

A police dog, a drone and multiple officers couldn’t find the man in the field, but the thick clouds of mosquitoes therein ultimately drove him out, onto the road, Campbellsport Police Chief Tom Dornbrook said.

Soon, Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ryan Zitlow pulled up and arrested him.

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“We teased (Zitlow) and told him that between him and a million mosquitoes, they had caught the guy,” Dornbrook said.

The man wore a hoodie, but still had 10 to 15 mosquitoes feasting on his exposed forehead when police arrested him, Dornbrook said.

According to Dornbrook, the mosquito-bitten man drove a getaway car for another Fond du Lac man, who stole hundreds of dollars of alcohol from a Campbellsport Piggly Wiggly.

The man accused of stealing alcohol had just gotten out of jail for doing the same thing, Dornbrook said. The store manager was familiar with the man’s tactics: load a cart full of alcohol and walk out the door.

The manager called Dornbrook, who drove to the store in time to see the man running to the car with a case of Skyy Vodka in one hand and a shopping basket filled with alcohol bottles in the other. The car took off, and Dornbrook chased it through Campbellsport.

The man who Dornbrook said stole the alcohol bailed out of the car into a cornfield first, and while police never found him, they know who he is and plan on arresting him.

Police plan on recommending charges of retail theft, obstructing an officer and bail-jumping for the man who they say stole alcohol. Police also plan on recommending charges of felony eluding and obstructing and operating after license revocation for the mosquito-addled getaway driver.

This is the first high-speed chase in Campbellsport in at least six years, Dornbrook said. The squad car reached speeds of 80 miles an hour at times to catch up to the men, who Dornbrook estimates were driving about 50 miles an hour.