Scott County officials charged a Prior Lake, Minnesota man with criminal vehicular operation and drunk driving charges after the man reportedly sought assistance for his wife in June. Deputies say that a 911 call came in shortly after 2:20 in the morning June 23. The caller hung up and authorities apparently sought to learn the nature of the 911 call.
Dispatchers contacted a man about the 911 and say that the man sounded as if he were under the influence. The man reportedly told dispatchers that his wife had fallen off a golf cart and sustained a bump on her head. Deputies made a trip to the man’s residence and claim that the man and his wife were sitting in a golf cart in the driveway. The golf cart reportedly was running.
Prosecutors ultimately charged the man with CVO and DWI charges. The man reportedly pled guilty to DWI in exchange for dismissal of the CVO charges involved in the criminal case.
Scott County officials say that the man was tooling around in the golf cart with his wife aboard when she fell off the moving cart. She hit her head, leading to the criminal vehicular operation charge that alleged the man caused his wife’s head injury while driving drunk on the golf cart. While news reports indicate that the man initially did not want to provide a blood sample during the DWI and CVO investigation, ultimately prosecutors claimed that the man measured 0.21 percent blood alcohol level roughly an hour and a half after the initial 911 came in that morning.
The man reportedly pled guilty to gross misdemeanor DWI November 15 to resolve the criminal case. Prosecutors dropped the CVO charge and a second count of misdemeanor DWI. The judge placed the man on supervised probation for two years. While he has 365 days of jail time hanging over his head on the gross misdemeanor conviction, he may be able to avoid all of that time under the terms of his sentence. If he successfully completes the terms and conditions of probation, he will not serve any more time in jail under the sentencing order.
Source: Shakopee News, “Man gets DWI for drunken golf cart incident,” Alex Hall, Nov. 21, 2012
