Category: DWI

Minnesota lawmakers may soon consider a proposal to get tougher on people who are convicted of drunk driving.

In early December, a Minnesota woman rear-ended a vehicle with a 66-year-old man and woman inside.

Minnesota Attorney Michelle MacDonald was arrested earlier this year for suspicion of driving under the influence and DWI test refusal in Dakota County, Minnesota. She was then charged with a Dakota County DWI and DWI test refusal. She was pulled over for going 8 mph over the speed limit. She was pulled over by a Rosemount police officer and told the officer that she was a reserve cop. The officer also smelled alcohol on her breath.

Minnesota law enforcement received word that three men had gotten into a truck at a Mississippi River boat launch. According to MPR News, officers arrived on the scene to find the truck hanging on the boat ramp and a man stumbling around in his underwear. The man refused to take a chemical test but admitted that he had been drinking. Because he refused to take the test, he was charged with driving under the influence.

In August, a captain of a Wisconsin sheriff’s office was pulled over in Minnesota on suspicion of driving under the influence. According to WISN.com, the woman initially refused a breath test but finally submitted to one, registering a 0.14 percent blood alcohol concentration.

In 2012, more than one-quarter of fatal traffic accidents in Minnesota were alcohol-related, according to the state’s Department of Public Safety. Mothers Against Drunk Driving rated the state poorly in terms of having countermeasures in place in order to reduce drunk driving, despite the fact that there were 5,000 fewer DUI arrests last year than the year before.