DWI Blogs

State Reports More Than 200 DWI Arrests for March

Minnesota's increased DWI enforcement program, called NightCAP focuses on the 13 deadliest counties in the state, with Blue Earth County being one of them.Their latest campaign netted nearly 200 arrests statewide, and as News 12's Ryan Gustafson tells us, law enforcement is seeing something positive come out of the program.Since the state's NightCAP DWI enforcement campaign began in the fall of 2008, more than 850 DWI arrests have been made during the high visibility patrol nights.56 of them in Blue Earth County.Officials say the high visibility enforcement reminds people to drive safe, and takes dangerous drivers off the road.Deputy Thomas Coulter says, "We're out there, we're going to keep fighting it, keep locating the impaired drivers and put as many of them as we can into jail and take them off the road.It is good that we're getting them off the street, but on the same token, it's kind of alarming to see that many of them."Although there were six DWI arrests during Blue Earth County's St. Patrick's Day NightCAP, Deputy Coulter was encouraged by the 20 designated drivers law enforcement found that same night.Something they feel is a sign that they're getting their point across.Deputy Coulter says, "Typically we'll see maybe ten or 11 and we saw almost over double of that. So the message is getting there.And that's important to law enforcement, because the alternative is not something they want to do.The worse job for law enforcement is going to tell the family of those that have lost someone that they've had a death in the family.

Man Arrested for the 12th Time on DWI

STILLWATER — A Minneapolis man was arrested for the 12th time on DWI-related charges after he rolled his car off the road into a Stillwater house.

Daniel Lynn Mills, 42, was arrested March 20 after he allegedly crashed in the 1200 block of First St. N. He was charged with two counts of felony DWI, as well as possession of an open bottle in a vehicle and driving after cancellation.

According to the Washington County criminal complaint: Police responded after a neighbor reported the crash and found Mills’ vehicle wedged against the house. Mills was attempting to remove items from the vehicle. He was so drunk that officers had to hold him by the arms to prevent him from falling down.

Mills claimed a friend was driving the vehicle and the friend had fled after the crash. Mills refused to identify the friend. He also said he had been playing with the gears and may have caused the crash, during which the vehicle rolled twice before striking the house.

Mills was in possession of two sets of car keys. A bottle of whiskey, an open bottle of soda that smelled of whiskey, and an empty Oxycodone prescription bottle were found in the vehicle.

The defendant was combative and verbally abusive toward officers, according to the complaint, and refused to take an intoxication level test, stating “I was already in prison for this offense before.

Mills recently had been released from prison, where he had been since his 11th drunk driving conviction in November, 2006. He had an active arrest warrant for failing to comply with the terms of his release. He also has convictions for check forgery and aggravated robbery, according to state records.