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Tim Walz’s past DUI arrest for driving 96 mph in a 55 zone comes back to haunt VP pick
Kamala Harris’ freshly minted veep pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was once arrested for drunk driving after he was pulled over for driving more than 40 mph above the speed limit.
Walz, 60, who was 31 at the time and working as a teacher in Alliance, Neb., was caught on police radar driving his silver Mazda 96 mph in a 55 zone just before midnight Sept. 23, 1995.
When the trooper approached his window, he detected “a strong odor of alcoholic beverage” emanating from the vehicle, court documents show.
After flunking a field sobriety test, he submitted to a breath test, which pegged his blood-alcohol level at 0.128%, well above the state’s legal limit of 0.08%.
Walz was arrested and taken to Dawes County Jail. He was given a blood test, but those results could not be immediately confirmed.
The following March, Walz pleaded the charges down to reckless driving, which required him to admit that he “drove a vehicle in a manner as to indicate an indifference or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property,” according to a court transcript.
After accepting the plea agreement, Walz’s lawyer Russell Harford attempted to explain that his client was speeding because he thought the trooper was “somebody chasing him,” alleging he didn’t fire up the lightbar in a timely fashion.
“This is a little bit bizarre, but Mr. Walz thought somebody was chasing him. The officer didn’t turn on his red lights and he — somebody came up real fast behind him and he didn’t know what they were doing,” Harford told Judge James Hansen.
“So he sped up to try to get away, fearing that somebody was after him. Lo and behold, it was a state patrolman that was behind him, so the faster he went, the faster the state patrol officer went,” he admitted.
The judge scolded Walz for driving under the influence, which particularly concerned him given his position as a teacher.
“This is a real problem for me to see a teacher get picked up for this kind of offense because you do have [to be] a role model,” he said.....
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Did Kamala pick a drunk? Or is Walz just a plain old public menace driving 96 in a 55. Geez he could have taken out an entire family. And this guy was a teacher. Hell of an example. I bet TOP has never been stopped for 96 in a 55 and drunk. The Judge let him off much too easy.
