Former Longtime State Senator Reacts to Bohacek's OWI Charges

Former Longtime State Senator Reacts to Bohacek’s OWI Charges

Jim Merritt, who served for 30 years in the Indiana senate, said Sen. Bohacek called him a few days ago to apologize and talk about his arrest.

INDIANAPOLIS — A former longtime Indiana senator says he recently spoke with State Sen. Michael Bohacek who was arrested back in January on OWI charges.

Jim Merritt, who spent 30 years in the state senate with the last 16 of those served as caucus chair, said Bohacek called him a few days ago to talk about what happened and to apologize. He told the “Kendall and Casey Show” on WIBC that Bohacek is taking the matter seriously.

“I sent him a text, he reached out and called me and said he was embarrassed,” Merritt said Wednesday. “He understands it’s very serious, unlike a lot of people in the statehouse who have these situations and he apologized to his caucus.”

It’s still unclear when Bohacek apologized to the caucus, but Merritt said it happened “shortly after” Bohacek was arrested.

Bohacek, a Republican, was arrested when he was pulled over for speeding in his 2023 Dodge Charger in Michigan City on January 24 and then formally charged on May 15. According to arrest documents, Bohacek had poor balance when he got out of the car in a Panda Express parking lot. He consented to a blood alcohol check and registered a .283. The legal limit is .08.

Merritt said this is a serious charge in general, but even more so that it’s an elected official who’s facing the charges.

“I voted for it, it used to be .1, now it’s .08 and I supported that, I was on the bill and to me this is a very serious charge,” said Merritt.

While Merritt detailed more of the conversation he had with Bohacek, he said the senator from Michiana Shores

“He believes that he did not try to get out of it and he believes that the system is going to render him in a punitive way,” Merritt added.

Merritt claims he did not know about Bohacek’s arrest until the story was broken in late May by the “Kendall and Casey Show.” Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith also told the show that he did not know about the charges facing Sen. Bohacek until May.

Under state law, members of the General Assembly are exempt from arrest during a legislative session in nearly all cases.

There has not been a formal apology or press release put out by Bohacek or his office to the public about the charges.

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