1410 WIZM

A La Crosse man is sentenced to prison for his role in the overdose death of his girlfriend last year.

23-year-old Mitchell Perner will spend 12 years in prison and serve eight years of extended supervision. Perner was found guilty by a jury in January of first-degree reckless homicide in the overdose death of 20-year-old Shelby Perkins in May 2010. He faced 25 years behind bars.

Police say Perner bought the heroin from 26-year-old Cory Koopman of Sparta, who is also facing charges before giving the drugs to Perkins twice in one night. She overdosed the next morning. Koopman will go to trial in June.

A Wisconsin woman was critically injured when her minivan collided with a cow on a Minnesota interstate.

The Minnesota State Patrol says the van driven by 36-year-old Svetlana Schmitz, of La Crosse, hit the cow on Interstate 90 near Lewiston in Winona County about 10:30 p.m. Saturday. She was taken by helicopter to St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester.

A 62-year-old passenger, also from La Crosse, suffered non-life threatening injuries and was treated at St. Mary's.

Both were wearing seat belts.

Admitted drug user Mitchell Perner faces 25 years in prison at his sentencing hearing today in Lacrosse....but first...Perner had to hear tearful testimony from Shleby Perkins family. Perner was found guilty earlier this year of giving a potent dose of heroin to Perkins last may...she died early May 21st of heroin toxicity after injecting the drug at the couple's South Side La Crosse apartment.

 

Kelly Perkins, Shelby's father, spoke to Judge Elliot Levine. Perkins begged with the judge to give Perner the maximum 25 years that he is facing. Perkins also had a message for Perner........that when he goes to prison......his only alternative of survival...is to commit suicide.

The judge's ruling is expected later today.

it may look harmless out there. Just a slightly swollen Mississippi River, overspilling its banks. But the spring-flooded river is fast, deep and cold. In short, says La Crosse police captain Jason Melby, deadly. Go sightsee, he says, just keep away from the water's edge. Especially in the high current areas in Riverside Park. Especially at night.  Even if you do know the park, says Melby, at night you may not be able to recognize where the park ends and the flooded waters begin.  Fortunately, Melby says, Operation Riverwatch and Police Reserve volunteers are keeping an even closer watch along the river at Riverside park at night just in case the random wandering drunk happens to stumble a little too close to water's edge.