Drunken Driving Suspect: ‘Hell Yeah, I’m Drunk!”

“Hell yeah, I’m drunk!”

That’s what a 29-year-old Minnetonka man told who pulled him over Friday following an encounter at the Holiday gas station where officers saw him staggering around the store after apparently having urinated on himself.

Officers watched Michael Louis Neal pay for gas, leave the store and get into a vehicle, Officer Erik Husevold wrote in a criminal complaint filed Monday. They stopped him after he sat at a green turn arrow until it turned red and then turned without signaling onto eastbound Highway 7 at Texas Avenue South.

Officers could smell alcohol coming from Neal, according to court documents. He failed several sobriety tests, and a breath test showed a blood alcohol level of .18 percent—more than twice the legal limit.

When given an opportunity to contact lawyers, he reportedly said, “Hell yeah, I’m drunk!” He later said he’d been “taking shots” in the four hours prior to his arrest.

Neal has been charged with first-degree driving while impaired—a felony that carries a penalty of three to seven years in prison and a fine of $4,200 to $14,000 plus a conditional release term.

He had previously had his license canceled because it was “inimical to public safety.” Court records show that Neal has previous convictions for drunken driving, driving after revocation and driving after suspension.