WAUKESHA, Wis. — Driving drunk in Wisconsin is a serious issue. In 2023, one person was killed or injured every 2.3 hours in an alcohol or drug impaired crash, according to the most recent data from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT).

There were at least 6,699 crashes in 2023 involving impaired drivers, per WisDOT. In those crashes, 199 people were killed.

What You Need To Know

  • Mike Hoffman lost his life in 2023 when a drunk driver rear-ended him and his wife Julie Hoffman

  • Julie Hoffman sustained several injuries and was in a coma for multiple months

  • Julie Hoffman and her son Caleb Hoffman are pleading to people to not get behind the wheel impaired 

  • Prosecutors said the drunk driver had a blood alcohol level that was more than double the legal limit

Julie Hoffman and her son, Caleb Hoffman, understand what it feels like to lose a loved one to drunk driving.

In Jan. 2023, Julie Hoffman and her husband Mike Hoffman were driving home from Fond du Lac when a drunk driver rear-ended them at an intersection. 

“I looked over and my husband wasn’t responding,” Julie Hoffman said. “The last thing before I got into the ambulance, I saw my husband in the road and they were trying to bring him back.”

At the time, Caleb Hoffman was home on winter break. He was preparing to head back to college for a new semester. Then, he got a call from the Fond du Lac Police Department.

“We went up and saw her in the hospital and she was lucid and we talked and everything,” Caleb Hoffman said. “Then, about a few hours later, she coded, and they had to do CPR. Then she was pretty comatose. She had a breathing tube in her neck. She was pretty out of it for the next three or four months.” 

While grieving the loss of his father, Caleb Hoffman watched his mother fight for her life. When she returned home, Julie Hoffman was still recovering from her injuries. 

“My head was cut open from ear to ear. They told me [a license plate] must have hit me in the head,” Julie Hoffman said. “From there it was my collar bone, my shoulder, my wrist, my femur, my ankle. My spleen came out of my body.”

Through this all, the Hoffmans have this message for anyone thinking about getting behind the wheel while impaired. 

“People really need to think about what they’re doing,” Caleb Hoffman said. “Drinking in Wisconsin is so normalized. We all drink, but the driving part needs to be cut out. We can’t be doing that. It will take a life.” 

They are not only grieving the loss of a loved one, but the future they envisioned with him.

“It was his bucket list to buy a Harley,” Julie Hoffman said. “It was our thing. We just loved to go out in nature and take some really wonderful rides. I’m so glad he got to experience that, and I got to experience it with him.” 

While the house feels empty without Mike Hoffman, Julie and Caleb Hoffman know he’s watching over them. They keep his picture on the fireplace mantel to always remember the reason they keep going. 

“He would always tell me that he was my best friend; I could tell him anything,” Caleb Hoffman said. 

A GoFundMe was created to help Julie and Caleb Hoffman.

Brian Sippel was sentenced to 28 years in prison for drunk driving homicide in the Hoffmans’ case. Prosecutors said his blood alcohol level was at .167.  That’s just over double the legal limit.