Walz previously arrested for drunk driving, going nearly 100 mph — spokesperson later apparently misrepresented case

Now that radical Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, 60, has been selected to be border czar Kamala Harris' running mate in 2024, his troubling past continues to make front-page news. Not only has Walz seemingly misrepresented his record with the Army National Guard, but he was also once arrested for driving under the influence and speeding along at nearly 100 mph — and his campaign spokesperson later apparently distorted the details of the incident to minimize his culpability.

On September 13, 1995, Walz was a 31-year-old high school teacher living in Alliance, Nebraska, a city of some 8,000 residents located about 150 miles south of Rapid City, South Dakota.

'So he sped up to try to get away, fearing that somebody was after him. Lo and behold, it was a state patrolman that was behind him.'

Just before midnight that night, Walz was speeding along in a 55-mph zone, reaching a top rate of 96 mph.

A state trooper then pulled Walz over, and as he approached Walz's open window, the trooper detected "a strong odor of alcoholic beverage emitting from Mr. Walz[‘s] breath and person," court documents said.

After failing a field sobriety test, Walz was subjected to a breathalyzer that indicated his blood-alcohol level was .128, well above the then-limit of .10, which has since been lowered to .08. Walz was then hauled off to Dawes County Jail, where he underwent a blood test, though the results of the test were later "suppressed," Alpha News reported in 2022.

Walz was initially charged with driving under the influence and speeding, but those charges were later amended after Walz agreed to plead guilty to one count of reckless driving. As part of his plea, Walz had to admit in court that he "drove a vehicle in a manner as to indicate an indifference or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property."

During Walz's hearing in March 1996, his attorney, Russell Harford, acknowledged that the guilty plea was appropriate. Not only had Walz been clocked at driving "90-something" mph, Harford told the court, but he "had been drinking."

"I think there’s a sufficient factual basis, judge, to support the plea," Harford reiterated.

Despite that admission, Harford also suggested during the proceeding that the trooper who pulled Walz over was at least partially to blame for Walz's lead foot.

"This is a little bit bizarre, but Mr. Walz thought somebody was chasing him," Harford insisted. "The officer didn’t turn on his red lights and he — 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. Lo and behold, it was a state patrolman that was behind him, so the faster he went, the faster the state patrol officer went," Harford added.

Ultimately, Walz was fined $200 plus court costs and had a suspended license for 90 days. He also resigned from his extracurricular activities, including coaching, at Alliance High School. He even offered to resign his position as teacher, though the principal there reportedly talked him out of it.

More than a decade later, in 2006, Walz first launched a campaign for Congress — just after an abrupt and ostensibly premature resignation from the Army National Guard following word that his unit was about to be deployed to Iraq. Though he may have dodged a tour in Iraq, his campaign could not dodge questions about his previous DUI arrest, and he was forced to account for his behavior.

Speaking on his behalf, campaign manager Kerry Greeley told an outlet that Walz actually was "not drunk" the night he was arrested, only hard of hearing, an unfortunate chronic condition supposedly stemming from his time with the National Guard, though Walz never saw combat.

"He couldn’t understand what the officer was saying to him," Greeley said at the time.

Greeley also alleged that Walz's "deafness" contributed to his "balance issues" the night of his arrest.

Because of the trooper's apparent insensitivity to Walz's hearing impairment, the judge overseeing Walz's plea upbraided the trooper and dismissed the DUI charges, Greeley claimed.

However, as Alpha News noted, the trooper's report made no mention of Walz's hearing problem, nor did the transcript of the plea proceeding. The transcript of the proceeding further showed that the judge never issued any chastisement of the trooper.

A 2018 report from MPR News confirmed that Walz underwent a stapedectomy to repair damaged bones in his ear sometime in 2005. Whether the surgery happened before or after his arrest is unclear.

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