Friday, May 10, 2013
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety will be tweeting every arrest from Friday’s patrols. Catch all the tweets here.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety has a new tool when it comes to deterring drunken driving: Twitter. On Friday night, there will be 150 squads patrolling major corridors in the Twin Cities’ largest-ever, one-night, coordinated DWI enforcement effort. But this effort isn’t notable just because of its size; it will also offer Minnesotans the chance to follow along via Twitter. The Department of Public Safety (@MnDPS_OTS) will tweet the age and gender of those arrested for DWI using the hashtag #May10DWI. Too busy to follow along in real time? Check out the agency’s tweets and other related mentions in the live blog above. (People viewing this article on a mobile browser may not be able to view the live blog.)
Monday, February 11, 2013
Erich Jacob Beck faces a felony charge of first-degree driving while impaired.
Hopkins police arrested a Minneapolis man on suspicion of his fourth drunken driving offense in about four years. Officers stopped 40-year-old Erich Jacob Beck on the 1200 block of Cambridge Street on Tuesday, Detective Renee Meuwissen wrote in the criminal complaint. They arrested him after noticing that his speech was slurred, he was unsteady on his feet and there was an odor of alcohol. A breath test at the department showed Beck had a blood alcohol content of .17 percent—just over twice the legal limit of .08 percent. Beck was previously convicted of refusal to take a breath test in October 2008, July 2010 and April 2012, according to court records. Because those convictions count as “qualified impaired driving incidents within 10 …
Friday, January 4, 2013
Police say Michael Soniama Sundufu, of Hopkins, fled a police officer, forcing police to set up a perimeter around a Minnetonka apartment building, and then refused to submit to chemical testing.
A Hopkins man has been charged with felony drunken driving after police say he refused to submit to chemical tests and fled, forcing officers to set up a perimeter around a Minnetonka apartment building so they could arrest him. Michael Soniama Sundufu, 26, is charged with first-degree driving while impaired—refusal to submit to chemical test, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a $14,000 fine. Sundufu also faces lesser charges of driving with a canceled license and providing false information to police, gross misdemeanors with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine, and fleeing police, a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. A Minnetonka police officer on routine …
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Police didn’t make any drunken driving arrests while residents were ringing in 2013.
Residents appear to have heeded officers’ safety warnings and avoided drunken driving on Hopkins’ streets over the New Year’s holiday. Hopkins police didn’t make any drunken driving arrests on New Year’s Eve, Police Sgt. Michael Glassberg said. Patrols out at the time reported that the night was quiet. Many people used public transportation or taxis. Statewide, troopers made 25 driving while impaired arrests between 6 p.m. Dec. 31 and 8 a.m. Jan. 1., State Patrol Lt. Eric Roeske tweeted. There were no fatal crashes on interstates or U.S. or state highways during that period. Follow us on Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Sign up for our free daily newsletter | Check out Patch’s Pinterest boards
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Robert Lee Brott is also accused of lying about his identity.
A Hopkins man who already has three drunken driving convictions on his record is facing a fourth charge. Robert Lee Brott, 50, came to officers’ attention June 2 when police saw a vehicle driving fast with its high beams on, Detective Renee Meuwissen wrote in charging documents filed Thursday. When officers stopped the vehicle, the driver, who had no license, provided a name and date of birth from a person in Colorado who turned out not to be the driver. He later admitted he did not have a driver’s license and said he was driving with his high beams on because he had a headlight out, according to the charging documents. After failed sobriety tests by the driver, whose identity was then still unknown, police administered a portable breath …
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Police Department
1010 1st St S, Hopkins, MN
/articles/police-bust-hopkins-man-for-fourth-dwi
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/locations/7503461
Monday, July 9, 2012
Another senseless tragedy leads me to believe that there are few things dumber than getting drunk and deciding to drive.
I'm going to try not to lecture anyone today. I'm going to try, but I'm not promising anything. I'm not promising anything because, frankly, I'm sick to my stomach. And I'm sick of this happening. When I was 18 years old, which was 20 years ago, my parents came into my bedroom one summer morning and told me that a classmate–a friend–had passed away, tragically, after he left a party on his motorcycle and never made it to his destination. I had seen him the night before. I knew. Fast-forward 20 years later. I grabbed my phone just for a moment, checking Facebook. Amazing how receiving the same sort of news has changed. Three people, whom I knew, were senselessly killed on Interstate 94 west of my former town of West Fargo. The driver…
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Joshua Paul Hastad faces two counts of first-degree driving while impaired.
“Yes, take me to jail.” That’s what Hopkins police say a Minnetonka man told them after he turned himself in for suspected drunken driving Friday afternoon. Prosecutors have charged 39-year-old Joshua Paul Hastad with two counts of first-degree driving while impaired, a felony. An officer noticed Hastad at 2:38 p.m. on Highway 7 when he saw the vehicle in front of him swerving over the line, according to charging documents written by Police Sgt. Michael Glassberg. The vehicle then made several turns and maneuvers the officer thought suggested the driver had been drinking. But before the officer could stop the car, Hastad pulled into a parking lot, got out and stuck his hands in the air, according to the charging documents. The officer …
44.92241
-93.41346
Police Department
1010 1st St S, Hopkins, MN
/articles/dui-suspect-turns-himself-in-tells-police-take-me-to-jail
979276
/locations/7112425
Friday, May 18, 2012
Christopher Ryan Arkwright has been charged with first-degree driving while impaired.
Prosecutors filed a felony drunken driving charge last week against a 25-year-old Minnetonka man who’s been involved in three prior drunken driving incidents. Christopher Ryan Arkwright came to officers’ attention when police saw him go through an intersection without coming to a complete stop April 8, Officer Renee Meuwissen wrote in charging documents filed April 11. The officer sounded his air horn several times before Arkwright stopped, according to the court documents. Arkwright told the officer he’d had “a few” drinks. A portable breath test showed an alcohol concentration of .23 percent, nearly three times the legal limit of .08 percent. Officers arrested Arkwright and found a half bottle of Captain Morgan in a plastic bag on the …
44.92241
-93.41346
Police Department
1010 1st St S, Hopkins, MN
/articles/hopkins-police-bust-man-for-fourth-suspected-dui
979276
/locations/7054368
DJR
9:52 pm on Monday, May 13, 2013
@mike savick: the point that's being made us that if you're going to defend a position by 'burdening others with facts' try using facts. more ›