Pubdate: Wed, 22 Oct 2003
Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI)
Copyright: 2003 Madison Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wisconsinstatejournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/506
Author: Ed Treleven Courts reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hallucinogens.htm (Hallucinogens)

INGESTED MUSHROOMS, SAYS SUSPECT IN JOGGER'S DEATH

Dustin J. Ripp was high on hallucinogenic mushrooms when he struck and 
killed a Middleton man as he jogged on a road just north of the city, 
according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.

Ripp, 19, was charged Tuesday with homicide while driving under the 
influence of a controlled substance, first-degree reckless homicide and 
failure to render aid causing death in connection with the death Saturday 
afternoon of Jim Beyer, 40, an executive at Famous Footwear.

He was also charged with hit and run in connection with a crash with 
another vehicle that occurred moments earlier.

Witnesses said they saw Beyer jogging on Pheasant Branch Road when a car 
driven by Ripp sped down the road and struck Beyer, who was killed 
instantly, according to the complaint.

"All I remember is I took the shrooms today and everything got weird," Ripp 
told Deputy Peter Hansen after the crash, the complaint states. "Then I got 
in this car and I crashed. Now I'm here."

Ripp was released from the Dane County Jail on $12,000 bail ordered Tuesday 
during a court appearance before Dane County Court Commissioner Todd 
Meurer. Ripp, a 2003 graduate of Middleton High School, is a graphic design 
student at MATC, said his attorney, Stephen Eisenberg. He lives with his 
mother in Waunakee. (

According to the criminal complaint against Ripp:

David Gibbon, a Middleton alderman, was jogging on Pheasant Branch Road 
when he saw Beyer, then saw Ripp's car. After the car passed, he said, he 
heard a loud impact and saw pieces fly off Ripp's car, then saw Beyer's 
body fall from the car. He ran to Beyer but found he had no pulse.

After the crash, Ripp got out of his car and walked up to Cory Acker, who 
was working on his truck in his driveway, and said "take me to my bed." 
Acker told police that Ripp, whom he knew from high school, did not seem to 
be himself. Acker said Ripp then got back into his car and drove it into a 
cornfield, attempting to make a U-turn.

Gibbon said he ran after the car and pounded on the driver's side window 
until Ripp stopped. Gibbon opened the car door and pulled Ripp from the car 
and, joined by a neighbor who had also seen the incident, held Ripp down 
for police.

Several times, Gibbon said, Ripp told him, "I'm high."

Ripp later told Dane County Sheriff's Detective Kevin Hughes that earlier 
that day, he had gone to a friend's house and consumed hallucinogenic 
mushrooms, and afterward, smoked marijuana. He told Hughes that he got 
scared and started "freaking out" and drove off in his car, determined to 
get home.

A little later, and moments before the crash that killed Beyer, Ripp struck 
a minivan from behind while driving northbound on Pheasant Branch Road. The 
van's driver said a man later identified as Ripp got out and showed him a 
marijuana pipe in one hand and a lighter in the other.

"I'm stoned. Don't call the police," Ripp told the other driver, before 
getting back into his car and driving off.

Madison police Lt. Brian Ackeret, commander of the Dane County Drug and 
Gang Task Force, said psilocybin or "magic mushrooms" are drugs the task 
force encounters infrequently. He classifies them as experimental drugs 
that are typically used only a few times because of the side effects - 
stomachaches and vomiting.

Psilocybin usually produces effects similar to LSD, but not quite to the 
same degree, experts say. Effects include relaxation, intensification of 
color, sense of well-being, separation from surroundings and feelings of 
heaviness or lightness. Effects usually begin within 30 minutes of 
ingestion and last two to four hours.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager