A 54-year-old man who has had his driver's license pulled a half-dozen times and has been caught driving drunk four times allegedly got behind the wheel while extremely intoxicated this weekend and turned into the path of another motorist at a rural intersection, leaving his victim hospitalized with severe injuries.
Brian R. Krautbauer, who already was on probation for a recent drunken-driving conviction, was charged Tuesday in Wright County District Court with criminal vehicular operation in the Saturday night collision of his pickup with a minivan on County Road 39 at Aetna Avenue NE. in Monticello Township, about a mile from his home.
Bail was set at $250,000 without restrictions or $50,000 with conditions that he stay away from alcohol and illegal drugs. Judge Stephen M. Halsey also ordered Krautbauer not to drive "or even be seated behind the wheel of a vehicle," said Assistant County Attorney Brian Lutes.
"This defendant is a menace to the public," Lutes said.
Krautbauer remained in jail Tuesday night.
A preliminary breath test at the scene measured Krautbauer's blood alcohol content at 0.237 percent, nearly three times the legal limit for driving in Minnesota, according to the criminal complaint. A deputy at the scene said Krautbauer smelled of alcohol, failed a field sobriety test, and had bloodshot and watery eyes, the court document said.
The other driver in Saturday's collision, 42-year-old Darin Hayes of Clearwater, Minn., was airlifted from the crash scene to North Memorial Medical Center with what the Sheriff's Office described as "severe injuries."
The complaint against Krautbauer noted that Hayes' "left femur was bent toward his right side in an approximate 90-degree angle, and the bones in his left arm were visible."
