Apr. 11—EAU CLAIRE — An Eau Claire man will spend three years in prison for drunken driving for the ninth time.

Robert J. Morrison Jr., 60, 2918 Leslie Lane, also threatened to kill a police officer, police say.

Morrison pleaded guilty this week in Eau Claire County Court to a felony count of ninth-offense drunken driving.

A felony count of threat to a law enforcement officer was dismissed but considered at sentencing by Judge Jon Theisen.

Theisen ordered Morrison to spend three years on extended supervision following his release from prison. Morrison was fined $1,769 and had his driver's license revoked for three years.

As conditions of supervison, Morrison must maintain absolute sobriety and undergo an alcohol and drug assessment and any other recommended programming or treatment.

According to the criminal complaint:

An Eau Claire police officer was sent to a gas station on Eddy Lane at 4 p.m. May 12, 2021, for a traffic complaint. An employee said a man, later identified as Morrison, appeared to be intoxicated when he attempted to buy cigarettes. Morrison then left the store and drove away in his Toyota Corolla.

The officer found the vehicle 40 minutes later at Riverview Park. The officer spoke with Morrison, whose eyes were glassy, his movements slow. Morrison's speech was slurred and there was an odor of intoxicants on his breath. There was also an open beer can lying on the ground next to the driver's door of Morrison's vehicle.

Morrison refused to perform field sobriety tests. The officer arrested Morrison for drunken driving. A second officer then found two empty beer cans on the front passenger seat of Morrison's vehicle.

Morrison got angry with the first officer. Morrison threatened the officer's life by saying he was going to get his friends to look for him and kill him. Morrison made further comments that if he was not handcuffed, he would fight the officer and it would end badly for him.

Morrison was taken to Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire for a blood draw.

Morrison was previously convicted of drunken driving in August 1994 in Eau Claire County, in September 1994 in St. Croix County, and in September 1999, October 1999, February 2002, April 2002 and May 2010 in Chippewa County.