A television news anchor in Duluth reportedly pled guilty to misdemeanor driving while impaired Monday. The 28-year-old had been charged with two counts of DWI and improper use of a car horn. The man was sentenced Monday to one year supervised probation and a $1,000 fine. The judge pronounced a 60 day jail sentenced, but the jail time was stayed at the time of sentencing.
Authorities claim that a police officer was on patrol in Duluth around 8:30 during the evening of June 16. The officer says that he noticed a car approaching from the opposite direction. The officer claims that several passengers were waving their arms through the open windows of the car while yelling loudly. The officer says that the driver then blew the car horn.
Several pedestrians reportedly were walking down the street. The officer claims that the pedestrians yelled to the officer to “Go get him,” according to a Duluth News Tribune report carries in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The officer apparently concluded that the noisy behavior of the passengers and the blare of the car horn upset the pedestrians. The cop reportedly wrote in his report that the loud activity was some kind of criminally culpable “disorderly conduct,” according to media reports.
The cop pulled over the vehicle and says that the driver said he blew his horn because he thought he saw someone in the roadway. Nonetheless, the officer says that he grew suspicious that the man behind the wheel had been drinking, based upon alleged slurry speech, and bloodshot, watery eyes.
The officer claims that the driver admitted to having two beers earlier in the evening, but the cop says that the driver later changed that to a total of three beers. The driver was ultimately arrested on suspicion of DWI. Police claim that the man blew a 0.15 percent alcohol level in a DWI breath test.
Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press, “Duluth TV news anchor pleads guilty to DWI,” Mark Stodghill–Duluth News Tribune, Dec. 18, 2012
