Court transcript sheds new light on Walz's DUI arrest

Gov. Tim Walz has said in past campaigns that he wasn't actually drunk when he was pulled over for driving under the influence in 1995, but a court transcript of the case tells a different story.

Walz was working as a teacher in his home state of Alliance, Neb., when he was pulled over on Sept. 23, 1995, for going 96 mph in a 55 mph zone.

“A strong odor of an alcoholic beverage was detected emanating from Mr. Walz[‘s] breath and person,” says a Nebraska state police report about the incident.

According to the report, Walz turned himself in and failed both a field sobriety test and a preliminary breath test. He was then transported to Chadron Hospital for a blood test before being booked into the Dawes County Jail.

He was initially charged with driving under the influence and speeding, but the charges were reduced to a single count of reckless driving under the terms of a plea deal.

The issue arose during Walz's successful 2006 campaign for Congress in Minnesota's First District. In one of the few articles available about the incident, Walz's campaign manager told him Rochester Post Newsletter he “was not drunk” and “attributed the misunderstanding to Walz's deafness,” a problem Walz said was caused by his time in the National Guard that has since been “surgically corrected.”

“He couldn't understand what the officer was saying to him,” Walz's campaign manager said at the time, noting that his deafness caused “balance issues.” Neither the police report nor the court transcript refer to the issues at the governor's hearing.

The results of the blood test were later suppressed, apparently as a result of the trooper's failure to realize that Walz was deaf, according to the Post Bulletin article. This means the results would not have been used as evidence against Walz if the case had gone to trial, but it was still referenced during a March 13, 1996 plea hearing.

During that hearing, former Dawes County Prosecutor Rex Nowlan said Walz had a blood alcohol concentration of .128 at the time of the incident.

“Mr. Walz was driving south of the city on 385 in Dawes County at a high rate of speed. He was actually walking away from the police officer. I think it eventually got over 80 speed as I recall. When he was pulled over, he was given a blood test that showed a blood alcohol level of 0.128,” Nowlan said, according to a court transcript.

Walz's attorney, Russell Harford, later acknowledged that Walz “had been drinking,” but said he was walking away from the state trooper because he “thought someone was after him.”

“The state patrol officer turned around and, this is a little, a little weird, but Mr. Walz thought someone was chasing him. The officer didn't run his red lights and he, and someone he came up very fast behind him and he didn't know what they were doing, so he accelerated to try to get away, fearing that someone was chasing him.” Harford said.

“Lo and behold, it was a state trooper that was behind him, so the faster he went, the faster the state patrol officer was going. Finally, he ran the red lights. The speed was quite excessive, Judge , well over the speed limit. I don't even know what was alleged in the complaint, it could have been 90 something. Mr. Walz had been… he had been drinking, so I think there is some factual basis sufficient, Judge, to support the petition,” he continued.

Harford also admitted that Walz had “a .128,” but described it as a “relatively low test.” At the time, the legal limit in Nebraska was .10, but like all states, it has since been lowered to .08.

According to the American Addiction Centers, a BAC of 0.10 or higher results in reduced reaction time and control, slurred speech, slower thinking and reasoning, and inability to coordinate arms and legs. The University of Notre Dame he says this level of intoxication can cause “significant impairment of motor coordination and loss of judgment.”

For reference, Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson allegedly had a BAC of .13 when he went totaled his county-issued vehicle late last year.

Walz's attorney went on to say that the governor felt so bad about the incident that he offered to resign his teaching position at Alliance High School and all of his extracurricular activities.

“He, I think, takes the position that he's a role model for the students there. He let them down, he let himself down. Because of that, he was willing to step down. Fortunately, the principal convinced to resign [the] school He actually gave up his extracurriculars,” Harford said.

The judge then asked Walz why it is against the law to “drive with a blood alcohol content of .128.”

“Not just statutory, it's just a dangerous situation, Your Honor, not just for me, but for others who are, who aren't even involved,” Walz responded.

Sometime later that year, Walz left Nebraska to start a new life in Mankato, Minnesota, where he began “teaching and coaching” at Mankato West High School, according to his campaign website.

It is not uncommon for past drunk driving offenses to appear in the campaign. In fact, in the 2010 gubernatorial race, the Alliance for a Better Minnesota ran ads against Republican Tom Emmer on two previous DUI charges. Emmer lost that race to Democrat Mark Dayton by less than half a percentage point, marking the beginning of 12 years of DFL control.

The Alliance for a Better Minnesota featured ad a mother whose son was killed by a drunk driver.

“And then I read that Tom Emmer himself has been arrested twice for drunk driving… And this man wants to be governor? Minnesota needs a governor who is on our side, and that's not Tom Emmer,” the ad said .

The governor's office received a copy of the transcript but did not respond to three requests for comment over four days.