FRIDLEY - An off-duty Minnesota state trooper took out several road signs and got his pickup truck stuck in a median before he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving early Thursday in Fridley, according to court documents.
The trooper, Sgt. Chris Daas, was arrested by Fridley police at 3 a.m. Thursday. He was charged Friday afternoon in Anoka County District Court with refusal to submit to a chemical test and fourth-degree driving while impaired.
According to the criminal complaint, a 911 caller reported seeing a vehicle hit multiple road signs as it traveled west on Osborne Road in Fridley. The vehicle then turned south onto University Avenue, veered into the median and got stuck.
Fridley police officers arrived and found a pickup’s step plate in the median on Osborne and the damaged pickup itself stuck in the median on University. The citizen caller told police the pickup had been heading west in the eastbound lanes of Osborne before jumping the curb and hitting the street signs.
Officers talked to Daas and noted that he smelled like alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and dropped his driver’s license on the ground. Asked how much he had to drink, Daas said “too much,” an investigator wrote in the criminal complaint. He was taken into custody.
ADVERTISEMENT
Daas, who serves out of the State Patrol’s Golden Valley office, has been a trooper since 2004. His record includes a lifesaving award, a meritorious service award and a letter of commendation. He was honored last year for pulling a woman from a burning car in Brooklyn Center.
He was also suspended for five days in 2011 following a conduct complaint. In 2008, he was named one of the patrol’s “DWI Enforcer All-Stars” for making 123 drunken driving arrests.
Col. Matt Langer, chief of the Minnesota State Patrol, called the incident “disturbing” in a statement Friday.
“Chris Daas’ alleged behavior does not reflect our core values as an organization, nor does it demonstrate our expectations for troopers, whether on- or off-duty,” Langer said.
---
By Marino Eccher, St. Paul Pioneer Press
The Pioneer Press is a media partner with Forum News Service.
