Former KEYC Anchor Sentenced For Drunken Driving
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A former news anchor for KEYC-TV in Mankato has been sentenced for driving while intoxicated.
Twenty-eight-year-old Annie Stensrud was sentenced to two years on probation on a third-degree driving while intoxicated. A year in jail was stayed, provided she follows the terms of probation.
Stensrud was arrested in the city of North Mankato just before noon on Dec. 21, 2011, for probable cause DWI. She pleaded guilty to third-degree DWI in Nicollet County Court and is scheduled to be sentenced at 10:30 a.m. on May 29.
Stensrud was thrust into the spotlight after a video showing her slurring through a newscast went viral.
Station general manager Dennis Walhstrom talked with WCCO Radio about the newscast, claiming Stensrud had "been sick." He said she was taking medication and missing a lot of work, but wanted to get back on air.
Walhstrom said, on the day of the newscast in question, she was not drunk, but had a bad reaction to the medication.
Regarding the night of her alleged DWI, a witness had called 911 to report a possible drunk driver, and the call was transferred to Nicollet County dispatch. Nicollet County then sent one of their officers to pull Stensrud over. The complaint states as she attempted to get out of her car for field sobriety tests, she struggled to stand on her own and had to hold her open car door to stay upright.
Stensrud then refused to perform those sobriety tests, as well as a preliminary breath test.
She was arrested and booked into the Nicollet County Jail. Toxicology tests put Stensrud's blood alcohol at 0.31, which is nearly four times the legal limit.
KEYC-TV is an CBS affiliate. Stensrud is no longer employed at the station, according to KEYC's news director Dan Ruiter.
