Democratic vice presidential hopeful Tim Walz was arrested for drunken driving in 1995 and the officer who pulled him over shared what Walz, now Minnesota governor and Democratic vice presidential nominee, did that night, according to The Daily Beast.
Nebraska trooper Stephen Rasgorshek said he pulled over Walz, who was 31 at the time and a high school teacher and football coach, according to the report. Walz failed a field sobriety and breathalyzer test that night. Court documents showed he immediately informed the school and offered to resign, but was not forced to leave his position. He also swore off alcohol for good, the Beast reported.
At this time, Walz owned up to the mistake, his defense attorney stated in court documents.
“He takes the position that he's a role model for the students there. He let them down. He let himself down,” the defense attorney said, according to the report.
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However, ten years later Walz appeared to have changed his story. When running for Congress in 2006, Walz’s campaign manager responded to a media inquiry regarding the DUI denying Walz had been drinking that night.
Instead, the staffer said Walz had hearing damage from his time serving in the National Guard and “couldn’t understand what the officer was saying to him.”
Rasgorshek expressed skepticism over the explanation, telling the Beast he has a loud voice and that hearing loss could not explain how Walz failed other field sobriety tests, including a gaze test administered at the scene.
“We were told that having a hearing problem had nothing to do with what the eyes are doing,” Rasgorshek told the Beast.
“Anyone can get a DUI. It’s what you do with it after you get the DUI,” Rasgorshek said. “If he had stuck with his story of, ‘Look, it changed my life and I stopped drinking,’ I would commend him, 1,000 percent.”
