Rep. Matt Grossell charged with DWI after police say he drove at 0.15 BAC
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A member of the Minnesota House of Representatives has been charged with driving while intoxicated.
The charges against Rep. Matt Grossell (R-Clearbrook) were filled on Friday. The charges show Grossell was pulled over in Clearwater County around 2:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 11. He was driving a Chevrolet truck.
Police reported that his blood alcohol level was at 0.15, which is about twice the legal limit for driving in Minnesota.
Grossell faces three misdemeanor counts of DWI in connection with the incident.
This is not the first time Grossell has been charged with a crime. In 2019, he was charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct after, investigators said, refusing to leave a St. Paul hospital where he was taken after allegedly causing a ruckus at a hotel bar. The initial statement said that when officers checked on Grossell after he was escorted to his room at the hotel, they found he could not answer basic questions and could not care for himself.
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Grossell, who is a retired Clearwater County sheriff's deputy, was subsequently removed from the Public Safety and Judiciary Committees as a result of that incident.
House Speaker Melissa Hortman said, at the time, she decided to remove him from his position on the committees due to comments made during the incident in which the police report states Grossell said "it will be hell to pay" for the arrest. Hortman stated the comments were a "threat to law enforcement" and "an abuse of office."
Grossell issued a statement after that apologizing for the incident, and accusing Hortman of attempting to "remove law enforcement voices from the Public Safety Committee."