'Designated Driver' Charged In DWI Crash; 4 Passengers Injured
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Chisago City man, who claimed he was a designated driver, is charged with injuring several passengers while driving drunk.
The criminal complaint says Anoka County Sheriff's deputies were called to the area of 221st Avenue Northeast and Luann Driver Northeast in East Bethel early Sunday morning on a report of a single-vehicle accident.
They arrived to find six people standing outside of a small SUV that was in a ditch, and two others trapped inside.
Deputies talked to the driver, 37-year-old Charles Brandon Stelzner, and noticed that he had slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and was wobbly on his feet.
Stelzner told the deputies that he was the designated driver, despite drinking four beers and two shots in the previous three and a half hours. His blood-alcohol level was almost twice the legal limit.
After Stelzner was arrested, he told authorities that he and six friends had been drinking at Moonshine Whiskey Bar and Grill, and while driving them home he went off the road after taking a curve too fast.
One of his passengers suffered a severely fractured ankle that required surgery; a second suffered neck and back injuries; a third suffered a fractured cheek bone and a facial laceration; and a fourth passenger suffered a broken and cut nose.
Stelzner was charged with three counts of criminal vehicular operation. He could receive a prison sentence of up to 15 years if convicted.
