RURAL MASON CITY – A drunk driver who put other people’s lives in jeopardy while traveling the wrong direction on a highway has been slapped with a felony – but mercifully spared prison.
Cerro Gordo deputies responded to a traffic complaint of a vehicle traveling the wrong way on Highway 18, at mile marker 183, outside Mason City at 3:24 AM Saturday morning, October 15, 2016. The vehicle was located still traveling the wrong way, police say. Once the vehicle was stopped and an investigation undertaken, the driver, 56-year-old Terry Lynn Hale of Northwood, was arrested for felony third-offense operating while intoxicated. He was also charged with traveling the wrong way on a two-way highway and no Insurance.
Hale initially pled not guilty, but eventually accepted a plea deal to felony third-offense operating while intoxicated. Judge Karen Salic sentenced Hale to 30 days in jail, a suspended 5-year prison sentence, and 5 years of probation. He was also ordered to pay $4,408.75 in fines and court fees as he surrendered his driver’s license. He is in the county jail now, serving his time.
