A mugshot of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has resurfaced, bringing to light his past brush with the law.
The incident in question dates back to 1995 when Walz was arrested for driving at a staggering 96 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone. Instead of taking responsibility, he claimed to be “deaf” in an attempt to evade the consequences of his actions.
According to police reports obtained by Alpha News, officers detected “a strong odor of alcoholic beverage” on Walz’s breath. He failed both field sobriety and breath tests, registering a blood alcohol level of .128—well above the legal limit. Initially charged with DUI and speeding, Walz ultimately struck a plea deal that reduced his charges to reckless driving.
During his campaign for Congress in 2006, Walz’s team attempted to downplay the severity of the incident by attributing his erratic behavior to his claimed “deafness,” which he stated was caused by his service in the National Guard.
His campaign manager insisted that Walz was not drunk and “couldn’t understand what the officer was saying.”
Walz asserted that his deafness, which has since been “surgically corrected,” led to balance issues and communication problems with the arresting officer. However, neither the trooper’s report nor the court transcript mentioned Walz’s hearing issues, according to Alpha News.
The news outlet reported:
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. This means the results wouldn’t have been used as evidence against Walz had the case gone to trial, but they were still referenced during a March 13, 1996 hearing on the plea agreement.
During that hearing, former Dawes County Attorney Rex Nowlan said that Walz had a blood alcohol concentration of .128 at the time of the incident.
“Mr. Walz was driving south of town on 385 in Dawes County at a high rate of speed. Actually, he was driving away from the police officer. I think that he eventually hit a speed of over 80, as I recall. When he was stopped, he was given a blood test which did show a .128 blood alcohol,” Nowlan said, according to a court transcript.
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.
Oh my gosh. Deaf due to his service. I call bullshit on that. He didn’t even fight in a war. He quit when he found out his platoon was going to Iraq. I have 20 relatives who served during the Iraq war. My dad was in Korea, 4 cousins in Viet Nam. NOT one of these people are deaf. Waltz didn’t even go to Iraq. Besides, when in the military and you are handling firepower you wear hearing protection. He and his handlers are big big liars.