Tim Walz, 60, the radical governor of Minnesota, has continued to make front-page headlines now that he has been selected as Border Patrol chief Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 presidential election. In addition to appearing to lie about his Army National Guard service, Walz has been arrested for drunk driving and speeding nearly 100 mph, details of which his campaign spokesman later appeared to distort to downplay his culpability.
On September 13, 1995, Waltz was a 31-year-old high school teacher living in Alliance, Nebraska, a city of about 8,000 people located about 150 miles south of Rapid City, South Dakota.
“So he got scared that someone was following him, so he tried to speed away, and lo and behold, it was a state trooper behind him.”
Just before midnight that night, Waltz was speeding on a road with a 55 mph limit, reaching a top speed of 96 mph.
When a state trooper pulled Waltz over and approached Waltz’s open window, the trooper detected a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from Mr. Waltz.”[‘s] Breath and People Court Documents Said.
After failing a field sobriety test, Waltz was tested with a breathalyzer, which showed a blood alcohol content of 0.128, well above the legal limit of 0.10 at the time (which has since been lowered to 0.08). Waltz was then taken to the Dawes County Jail where he took a blood test, the results of which were later “concealed.” Alpha News It will be reported in 2022.
Waltz was initially charged with DUI and speeding, but the charges were later amended when he pleaded guilty to one count of reckless driving. As part of his guilty plea, Waltz had to admit in court that he “drove in a manner demonstrating indifference and reckless disregard for the safety of persons or property.”
At Waltz’s hearing in March 1996, his lawyer, Russell Harford, agreed that the guilty plea was appropriate. He told the court that Waltz had not only been driving in the 90 mph range, but that he had also been drinking.
“Your Honor, I believe there is a sufficient factual basis to support this plea,” Harford repeated.
Despite that admission, Harford also suggested during the trial that the officer who stopped Waltz was at least partially responsible for Waltz stepping on the gas.
“This is a little odd, but Mr. Waltz thought someone was chasing him,” Harford alleged. “The officers did not have their red lights on and someone was coming up behind him at a high rate of speed and Mr. Waltz had no idea what they were doing.”
“So he got scared somebody was following him so he started speeding up and he saw a state trooper behind him and the faster he went, the faster the state trooper went,” Harford added.
In the end, Waltz $200 fine plus court costs He was suspended for 90 days and resigned from all extracurricular activities, including coaching, at Alliance High School, and reportedly offered to resign from his teaching job but was dissuaded by the school’s principal.
More than a decade later, in 2006, Walz first ran for Congress, shortly after his abrupt and apparently premature resignation from the Army National Guard after learning his troops were being deployed to Iraq. Though he escaped duty there, his campaign couldn’t avoid questions about his prior drunk driving arrest, forcing Walz to explain his actions.
Campaign Manager Kelly Greeley has spoken out on Walz’s behalf to media, saying that Walz was not in fact “intoxicated” the night of his arrest, but simply had hearing loss — a chronic and unfortunate condition from his time in the National Guard, though he did not serve in combat.
“He couldn’t understand what the officers were saying,” Greeley said at the time.
Greeley also argued that Waltz’s “hearing impairment” on the night of his arrest contributed to his “balance problems.”
Greeley argued that the officers’ apparent indifference to Waltz’s hearing loss prompted the judge presiding over Waltz’s arraignment to reprimand the officers and dismiss the DUI charge.
But as AlphaNews pointed out, the officer’s report made no mention of Waltz’s hearing loss. Transcript Records of the plea bargaining process further revealed that the judge did not issue any discipline to the officers.
2018 Report MPR News Waltz confirmed that he had a stapedectomy to repair damage to a bone in his ear around 2005. It is unclear whether the surgery took place before or after his arrest.
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