Legal Question in Traffic Law in Minnesota

Hello There-

The other night, I got a Minor Consumption Fine. I was driving home with friends from a college dance (our driver was sober), when our driver made an illegal right turn by pulling into the far lane rather than the closest lane. The officer (a state trooper), I'm assuming saw how we were dressed assumed we came from the dance and asked us all if we had been drinking and took our I.D's. He breathalized all of us, though not the driver. So my first question is: isn't he supposed to breathalize her first??

When I was breathalized I blew a .018, a minute amount of alcohol. I had had the equivalent of about a beer and a half before the dance which was 3 hours earlier. However, before the dance I also brushed my teeth and used mouth wash- which I know contains alcohol and chewed gum at the dance. So my second question is: is there a way to fight this saying there's a chance the alcohol I blew was from the latter rather than the drinks I had 3 hours earlier?

We were all very polite, and cooperated and caused no problems. We are all first time offenders and were too scared out of our minds to think about our rights in the situation.

The last thing is this: The driver received no consequences despite her illegal turn being the reason we got pulled over. Is there a problem there??

I'm a good kid, was drinking responsibly, and would really like to get this taken care of. I'm not sure if I should fight this or if it would just be wiser to pay the fine. I'm also concerned about this being on my record. Any input would be incredibly helpful!

Thank you!


Asked on 3/21/10, 5:45 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Ross Brandborg Brudvik Law Office

You probably need an attorney to properly fight this case. And without the police reports I can not comment on the facts as you have described them.

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Answered on 4/02/10, 12:27 pm


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