A man with a history of drunken driving convictions was charged again after police say he drove the wrong way on a southern Minnesota freeway and was stopped by the State Patrol.
A trooper took Alexander Valentinovich Sazonov, of Sioux Falls, S.D., in to custody just before 11 p.m. Friday after spotting him severely weaving over the fog line while driving on Interstate 90 between Rushmore and Adrian in Nobles County. Sazonov, 50, consented to a breath test, which showed his blood alcohol concentration at .24 percent, or three times the legal limit. He was charged this week with second-degree DWI. It was his 13th DWI, court records show.
It all started when the State Patrol got a handful of 911 calls from motorists about a white van traveling west in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 90 in the vicinity of Worthington. A trooper was near Luverne, 25 miles away at the time. As the trooper drove east toward Worthington, he did not hear any more 911 calls and figured the wrong-way driver had made a correction and was back in the proper lane. But he kept looking.
At 10:52 p.m., the trooper spotted a white van, which matched the description, although it was now in the correct lane. He pulled the driver over and found several empty aluminum cans in a plastic bucket between the front seats. The trooper also found a 24-pack of Budweiser on the passenger side floorboard, said Lt. Tiffani Nielson of the State Patrol.
Sazonov admitted during the traffic stop to having a few beers, she said.
Sazonov's most recent DWI conviction was in 2013. His other convictions date back to 1988 with most of them in the late 80s and early 90s, court records show.
Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768
