A state trooper who was charged with drunken driving 11 years ago while serving as a bodyguard and chief driver for former Gov. Arne Carlson has been arrested again on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Peter Teigen, 51, of Clear Lake, Minn., was pulled over Sunday in nearby Becker after the authorities received a report at 11:40 a.m. of a possible drunken driver. Sherburne County Sheriff Bruce Anderson said deputies who arrested Teigen as he pulled into his driveway suspected he was under the influence of alcohol.

Teigen, who was convicted of the drunken driving charge from 11 years ago, was booked Sunday at the Sherburne County Jail in Elk River. He was not immediately charged. The Department of Public Safety said it has begun an internal investigation independent of the criminal investigation.

A State Patrol spokesman said he was not aware of any other state troopers who have been arrested twice for driving under the influence.

"It would disappointing for this agency if these allegations proved to be true," said Lt. Mark Peterson.

Upon his release, Teigen was driven home by a fellow state trooper, Anderson said. That has triggered the anger of at least one activist group.

"What he [Teigen] has done makes every state trooper look bad," said Sharon Driscoll, director of Minnesotans for Safe Driving. "Why treat him to a police escort? That's an outrage, another state trooper taking him home in a state patrol car."

Teigen, who recently had been assigned to office work, was arrested in September 1995 for driving an unmarked car eastbound in the westbound lane of Hwy. 10 near Big Lake. His blood alcohol level was measured at nearly twice the legal limit.

He was fired Nov. 13, 1995, after being charged with drunken driving and sexual assault for allegedly fondling a woman at a convenience store near Big Lake. A jury found him not guilty of fifth-degree sexual assault.

Teigen was reinstated as a trooper just days after suffering a heart attack in July of 1996 when it was learned that he was without medical coverage. Teigen, who had appealed his firing, was reinstated by Wayne Simoneau, then the commissioner of the Department of Employee Relations, with the approval of the governor's office.

In 1996, Simoneau said: "I felt the department's failure to act more quickly contributed to a 41-year-old person's heart attack. ... Putting a person under this kind of stress was not the proper thing to do."

Paul Levy • 612-673-4419