Tuesday, December 4, 2012
December is designated National Impaired Driving Prevention Month, and Dakota County officials are warning drivers about the dangerous consequences of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
Editor's Note: The following is a press release from the Dakota County Sheriff's Office and the Dakota County Attorney's Office. Now that the holiday season is here Americans across the country will soon be involved in holiday activities and travel. For some however, the season won’t be free of disaster. That’s why Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom and Dakota County Sheriff Dave Bellows are joining highway safety organizations and law enforcement partners across the nation to remind people during December and throughout the year that Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving and that drinking and driving don’t mix. December is designated National Impaired Driving Prevention Month. It is a time to raise awareness about the dangerous consequences…
Saturday, August 18, 2012
The largest DWI enforcement of the year in the state and nation runs Aug. 17–Sept. 3.
A statewide DWI enforcement campaign runs Aug. 17–Sept. 3, and its relevance is underscored by 2011 statistics showing 68 percent of deaths in drunk driving crashes involved drivers that had alcohol concentrations twice the 0.08 legal limit. The "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" enforcement campaign is coordinated by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) Office of Traffic Safety, and is also being conducted nationally. “Half a million Minnesotans who have a DWI on record can tell you how their arrest turned their lives upside down,” says Col. Kevin Daly, chief of the State Patrol. “The hard consequences of drunk driving can be easily avoided by planning ahead and making smart decisions.” Minnesota Drunk Driving Facts During the …
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
From 2008 to 2010, Dakota County had 15 alcohol-related deaths and 42 alcohol-related injuries.
Dakota County is among 13 counties in the state being targeted for increased DWI enforcement through September by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) Office of Traffic Safety. "Our No. 1 goal is to change the way people think about drinking and driving," said Mendota Heights Police Chief Mike Aschenbrener. "We really hope to keep them off the roads and alive along with all of the others that get hurt around them by no choice of their own." The counties targeted—Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka, St. Louis, Wright, Olmsted, Rice, Washington, Stearns, Sherburne, Scott and Carver in addition to Dakota—were chosen because they have the highest combined totals of alcohol-related traffic deaths and serious injuries. From 2008-2010, those …
Monday, August 15, 2011
All information is taken from the Mendota Heights Police Department incident summaries.
All information was taken from the Mendota Heights Police Department incident summaries. Aug. 5 Police were called on a couple making a scene at a party on Huber Drive. Both were cited for underage consumption. Aug. 3 A resident near Friendly Hills Park reported three men stealing landscaping lights. Police pulled over a suspicious vehicle leaving the neighborhood shortly after. A search turned up 32 landscaping lights in the trunk. Aug. 2 A worker reported his truck stolen from the Lemay Lake neighborhood. July 31 A motorcycle cut off a driver and ran a stop sign on Highway 13, before pulling into the Holiday Gas Station. The off-duty officer driving two cars back was available to issue appropriate citations. July 29 A vacant home on …
Friday, July 8, 2011
Drunk driver stopped for cruising through construction zone.
All information was taken from the Mendota Heights Police Department incident summaries. June 30 A baggie of cocaine was found on the floor of a Highway 110 business. A driver was stopped for driving through the construction zone on Delaware Avenue. The driver appeared to be impaired, and a preliminary breath test registered a blood alcohol level of .13. June 27 A trailer and Bobcat were reported stolen from a business on the 2100 block of Dodd Road. A gas driveoff was reported from the Holiday on Highway 110. The store manager reported that it was the same vehicle used in a previous driveoff. June 24 A domestic dispute was reported between a father and son. June 22 Police responded to a crash on the 600 block of Highway 13, where they …
Friday, June 3, 2011
Law enforcement officials say active parenting and school-hosted senior parties are best line of defense against underage drinking and driving around graduation time.
Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom knows all too well the toll that drinking and driving can take: His mother was crippled after her car was struck by a 15-year-old drunk driver. Which is why Backstrom personally attends many of the mock car crashes held for Dakota County high school students in the spring. It's no coincidence that those elaborate accident reconstructions are staged in April and May. Anecdotally, Backstrom said, the number of alcohol-related accidents involving underage drinkers increases just after high school graduation in the late spring. “Every year, we see an increase in these issues around major high school events, like prom and graduation, so it’s a concern in the springtime,” Backstrom said. With that in mind, …
44.880743
-93.086063
Mendota Heights Police Department
1101 Victoria Curv, Mendota Heights, MN
/articles/extra-patrols-communication-target-underage-drinking-at-graduation-time
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/locations/4504077
44.889057
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Henry Sibley High School
1897 Delaware Ave, Mendota Heights, MN
/articles/extra-patrols-communication-target-underage-drinking-at-graduation-time
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/locations/4504078
44.86676
-93.131695
Convent of The Visitation School
2455 Visitation Dr, Mendota Heights, MN
/articles/extra-patrols-communication-target-underage-drinking-at-graduation-time
1585507
/locations/4504079
Sunday, May 1, 2011
The "victims" were student actors, but the message was real.
A bottle of tequila, a texting driver and some post-prom carousing were the ingredients in a mock tragedy performed Wednesday night by Henry Sibley High School Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) students at the Western Service Center in West St. Paul. "Drunk driving, plain and simple, kills and cripples more people than any other crime in this country," said Dakota County AttorneyJames Backstrom. "And in the world we live in today, it's not just drunk driving, it's distracted driving too. It's using these cell phones and texting when you're behind the wheel of a car too." The depiction of two deaths from an auto accident and the response from law enforcement, fire, medical and eventually, the mortuary, was graphic in nature. But…
44.883444
-93.090791
1 Mendota Rd W, West St Paul, MN
/articles/henry-sibley-sadd-and-law-enforcement-stage-mock-car-crash
/locations/4301875
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Drunk driver ran stop sign, crashed into vehicle driven by man also cited for alcohol impairment.
A Mendota Heights man pleaded guilty in St. Croix County Court March 10 for a crash in June of last summer that injured four people in his own car. Court documents state that Michael Thomas Johnson, 21, agreed to one felony count of intoxicated use of a vehicle, one misdemeanor charge of negligent operation of a vehicle, one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct, and one count of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, according to St. Croix County Circuit Court. According to a report by the Hudson-Star Observer, Johnson’s car ran a stop sign at the intersection of Highway 12 and Highway 65 in Roberts, WI. and crashed into the vehicle of Timothy J Kazmierczak, 52, of Hammond, WI. Kazmierczak pleaded guilty days after the crash to …
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Squads from cities all over the county will be patrolling the West St. Paul area.
An alleged drunk-driving related fatality Dec. 17 on Interstate 35E in Mendota Heights highlights the impact drinking and driving can have on a life in just a matter of moments. If that's not enough to stop local residents from driving home with a bit too much "cheer" in their system, consider this: Over Christmas weekend, law enforcement agencies from all over the county will be targeting drunk drivers in the West St. Paul area, increasing the incentive for everyone to stay safe and find a sober ride. Anyone who decides to drink and plans to operate a motor vehicle this weekend would be wise to catch a ride with a friend, call a sober driver, or call for a cab instead, said Mendota Heights Police Department's Safe and Sober coordinator …
Iam AnonEmous
10:28 pm on Sunday, February 3, 2013
Yep December sees ALL kinds... the links below reminds... Oh yeah and this guy IS a 25 year judge!!! Wonder how many times over those 25 years he did so and didn't smash up 5 parked cars... http://mendotaheights.patch.com/articles/dakota-county-judge-posts-bond-after-being-charged-with-christmas-eve-dwi-e20afd19 http://mendotaheights.patch.com/articles/south-metro-news-roundup-56626cd5 more ›