This article in the Post-Crescent newspaper is the result of a preliminary hearing at an Outagamie County court held Friday afternoon, Jan 26, 2001 to consider trying Todd Schuelke as an adult for the felony death of Michael Colden.  The article below contains a number of significant errors and mis-statements: Michael Colden and Todd Schuelke were not "friends" or "companions" as the reporter states; and the glaring error in the fifth paragraph that states "Colden...was driving fast" must be the result of  the reporter's carelessness or ineptitude. As in previous court hearing on the matter, a number of close relatives were able to appear at the hearing and witness the entire proceedings.

LOCAL NEWS

Sat 27-Jan-2001

Teen driver ordered to stand trial in companion's snowmobile death
By Dan Wilson
Post-Crescent staff writer

A 16-year-old boy was bound over for trial Friday on charges of causing death by drunken driving for the Feb. 13 snowmobile accident which resulted in the death of his 17-year-old companion.

Todd D. Schuelke, W10759 U.S. 10, Fremont, was bound over for arraignment on charges of causing death by operation of a motor vehicle while intoxicated and causing death by operation of a motor vehicle with a blood-alcohol concentration higher than 0.10 percent after a preliminary hearing before Outagamie County Circuit Judge Dee Dyer.

The case has been bogged down while appeals on Schuelke's waiver into adult court were resolved.

Schuelke was days away from his 16th birthday on Feb. 13 after he allegedly left a party and took his friend, Michael Colden, 17, of Fremont, for a ride.

Colden allegedly was driving fast when his snowmobile struck a tree just east of County D north of U.S. 10 in the Town of Dale, killing Colden instantly.

Colden died of head injuries received when he struck the tree. Schuelke received a broken arm in the accident.

Blood tests conducted about three hours after the accident indicated a blood-alcohol content of .073 percent.

Testimony at the preliminary hearing centered on the blood-alcohol evidence which, according to the prosecution, would have been over .10 percent at the time of the accident.

A toxicologist testified that by working backwards from the time of the test, taking into account Schuelke's weight and body mass, and the amount he is estimated to have consumed, he would have had a blood-alcohol content of .12 percent.

Witnesses who attended the party Schuelke and Colden attended differed in their testimony on how much Schuelke drank. One witness said he drank 11 beers over the course of the evening while others said they didn't see him drink anything.

One witness who talked to Schuelke some days after the accident said Schuelke told him he lost control of the snowmobile after accelerating to a high speed and couldn't stop before coming up on a stand of trees.

"Did he tell you he was going about 90 miles an hour? Is that correct?" Outagamie County Dist. Atty. Vince Biskupic asked the witness.

"Yes," he said.

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