MADISON (WKOW) -- The brother of the Edgerton man suspected in a fatal, drunken driving crash says their mother was killed as his brother's passenger, as she tried to escort her son to the hospital.
Thomas Monson, 57, remains in the Dane County Jail on felony charges including Homicide by Operating While Intoxicated (OWI). Dane County District Attorney's spokesperson Alexandra Fischer says Monson is expected to be criminally charged and appear in court May 16.
Madison Police officials say a sedan driven by Monson with his mother, Bonnie Monson, 84, in the passenger seat crashed into a tree on Whitney Way at Endeavor Lane April 28 at 2:15 a.m.
California resident David Monson tells 27 News he was visiting his family in Edgerton at the time of crash. Monson says his brother was complaining of concussion symptoms and their mother was williing to drive him to UW Hospital, but Monson believed care could be sought a short time later during daylight hours.
"So I thought I had everything settled out," David Monson says. "He went to his place and I was staying at my mom's at the time and she went up to her bedroom. But she snuck out and went over and got him."
Court records show Thomas Monson has seven previous OWIs. David Monson says their mother tried to help his brother remain safe and sober.
"He would go four, five years (of sobriety), and then something would set him off and he would drink," David Monson says. "And all it takes is one."
On the early morning of Thomas Monson's distress, David Monson says their mother was "very adamant about helping him out."
"She was the one who started driving," David Monson says. "She got lost and Tom decided to take over the driving, that's when the accident happened," he says.
Madison Police officials have yet to release any preliminary breath test results for Thomas Monson's blood alcohol level after the fatal crash.
Monson's most recent OWI conviction involved his 2015 crash into small truck on Highway 18 in Deerfield. The truck's driver escaped serious injury in the head-on collision. Monson was sentenced to three years in prison.
David Monson says his brother was not provided a sufficient treatment opportunity during that prison stay.
"I can tell you he's beating himself up more than anybody or any incarceration is going to do to him," David Monson says.
Monson says he hopes any criminal justice outcome to this family tragedy will involve a treatment component for his brother.
Monson says his brother's loss of their mother is a punishment without equal.
More at WKOW 27 News