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 from the case tells a different story.
Walz submitted to and failed both a field sobriety test and a preliminary breath test, according to the report.
In one of the few available articles on the incident, Walz's campaign manager told the Rochester Post Bulletin he was "Not drunk" and "Attributed the misunderstanding to Walz's deafness," an issue 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 his deafness caused "Balance issues." Neither the trooper's report nor the court transcript reference the governor's hearing issues.
The results of the blood test were later suppressed, seemingly as a result of the trooper's failure to realize Walz was deaf, according to the Post Bulletin article.
Walz's attorney, Russell Harford, later acknowledged that Walz "Had been drinking" but said he was driving away from the state trooper because he "Thought somebody was chasing him." "The state patrol officer turned around and, this is a little, a little bit bizarre, but Mr. Walz thought somebody was chasing him. The officer didn't turn on his red lights and he - and somebody came up real fast behind him and he didn't know what they were doing, so he sped up to try to get away, fearing that somebody was after him," Harford said.
The judge then asked Walz why it is against the law to "Drive with a.128 blood alcohol content." "Not just statutory, it's just a dangerous situation, Your Honor, not just to myself, but to others who are - who aren't even involved with it," Walz replied.
At some point later that year, Walz left Nebraska to start a new life in Mankato, Minn., where he began "Teaching and coaching" at Mankato West High School, according to his campaign website.
https://alphanews.org/court-transcript-sheds-new-light-on-walzs-dui-arrest/
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