A Mosinee firefighter accused of taking a fire engine on an early morning joyride and then crashing it after a night out drinking has resigned and his chief has requested that no criminal charges be filed in the case.
Kody Krieg resigned in August after an investigation into the crash, according an internal investigation report obtained by Daily Herald Media under open-records law. He remains employed as a dispatcher with the Marathon County Sheriff's Department.
It is through that job that Krieg was identified as a suspect after the fire truck was found abandoned at the end of Oconto Road in Mosinee in the early morning hours of July 22, according to police reports.
A Mosinee Police officer investigating the crash learned that the person who reported it had used an abandoned phone line at the dispatch center to call it in, and Krieg's coworkers there said the caller sounded like Krieg using a faking accent, police reports said.
When police tracked Krieg down, he initially denied taking the truck but later admitted he drove the fire engine to quell an anxiety attack after a night out drinking, during which he made sure he didn't overindulge, according to reports. He said he often goes on drives to calm himself during those anxiety attacks and this time, he tried using a fire engine at around 1:15 a.m. Krieg said he abandoned the truck after crashing it and called dispatch once he got back to the fire station, police reports said.