WHO-TV reporter Erik Wheater arrested for drunk driving days before Sonya Heitshusen, An award-winning news anchor was arrested for drunken driving in Iowa just one day after a television reporter for the same news station was busted for boozing behind the wheel, police said.
Sonya Heitshusen, 47, was arrested first early Saturday, after she refused to step out of her car and submit to a field sobriety test when she was pulled over in Des Moines, cops said.
The Emmy Award-winning journalist — who works as a 5 p.m. anchor and reporter for WHO-TV news — was taken to a police station and refused another breath test, the Des Moines Register reported.
Heitshusen, who allegedly had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, was taken to the Polk County Jail and charged with drunken driving.
Her arrest came a day after Erik Wheater, a 25-year-old news reporter for the same station was charged with driving while intoxicated, police said.
Wheater was pulled over early Friday because his vehicle did not have a front license plate. But police noticed he was having trouble standing and fumbled around while looking for his license, registration and insurance information, the newspaper reported.
A breath test later revealed his blood-alcohol level was .125% — higher than the legal limit of .08%.
Wheater is a general assignment reporter who anchors the Saturday and Sunday morning newscasts.
The local NBC affiliate did not issue any comment about the arrests.
