911 call led to WHA CEO’s DWI arrest, blew .35 BAC

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A 911 call from a concerned driver Sunday led police to Wilmington Housing Authority CEO Michael Krause, who was charged with DWI after blowing a blood alcohol level about four times the legal limit.

A man with a female passenger in the car called 911 Sunday afternoon to report a White Toyota 4Runner driving erratically on Oleander Drive heading toward Wrightsville Beach.

“There’s a gentlemen in a vehicle that’s swerving all over the road,” the man told an operator.

Click here to listen to the 911 call that led to Krause’s arrest

As they passed Greenville Loop Road, the caller said the driver had almost run another car off the road.

“A few times he’s been swerving all over the place, and he’s been on the center line, on the edge of the road, and (it’s) just concerning that he would hurt someone as he’s driving,” the caller said.

The caller told the operator the driver almost rear-ended someone near Mayfaire. The caller continued to follow the SUV and provided the operator constant updates.

The man and woman argued briefly when he would not follow as closely as she wanted him to.

“He could kill somebody,” the woman said.

The operator told the man to tell the woman he should not put himself in danger.

The caller said the driver ran over medians on Wells Ave. in a neighborhood and ran a stop sign turning onto Windemere Road. Police later arrested Krause at his home on the street. Today, no one answered the door when we went by to see if Krause had anything to say.

The couple who called 911 agreed to meet a police officer at Mayfaire to describe what they had seen.

WPD spokeswoman Linda Rawley said Krause did not take a breath test. Instead, she said police collected a blood sample, but the results of that test are not yet available.

A dispatch log, though, shows that after police arrived at Krause’s home, they gave him an Alco Sensor test. The log shows the first test registered a .35 BAC, which is more than four times the legal limit of .08. The second and third tests each registered .31.

Police later took a barefoot Krause to the New Hanover County Jail, where he joked with officers and admitted he had been drinking. He said he also sometimes takes the prescription drug Ambien.

Krause asked WHA for a leave of absence yesterday after already being scheduled to be off for a few days to start the week. The WHA Board of Directors has called a special meeting Thursday morning to discuss what happened.

Krause is due back in court November 26.

Krause’s arrest is his second for DWI since taking over WHA in 2008. In 2009 he was charged with DWI after blowing .23 on a breath test. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a fine and community service.