Police Chief Chad Gulbranson said he was surprised to learn that the motorist who led one of his officers on a high-speed chase on a central Minnesota highway had had too much to drink.
"Usually drunks don't go that fast," the Osakis chief said Thursday.
Unlicensed and allegedly intoxicated, Pedro E. Reyes Cartagena fled police at 128 mph, with a 14-year-old boy in the car, becoming one of the most noteworthy of the 1,400 motorists caught in the latest statewide crackdown on impaired driving.
That pursuit was one of the most troubling incidents highlighted by the state Department of Public Safety (DPS) from a 17-day campaign that ended Sept. 2.
The joint crackdown by more than 300 agencies snagged 1,369 motorists for drunken driving, one less than the last year's campaign over the same time period, the DPS said.
The State Patrol rang up 133 impairment stops in the Twin Cities area, followed by police in St. Paul (64) and Fridley (30). Eleven drivers who were pulled over were found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.30 percent or higher, nearly four times the legal limit.
Osakis, with a population 1,700, had two of the most notable arrests during the crackdown.
On Aug. 19, Reyes Cartagena, 32, of nearby Long Prairie, was at a birthday party noisy enough that "we actually talked to [the revelers] that night about being too loud," Gulbranson said.
