KANDIYOHI COUNTY, Minn. — A central sheriff’s deputy from Minnesota his police car crashed while on DUI probation, court documents say.
Christopher Flatten will be on probation for two years and documents say his 90-day prison sentence will be postponed by two years.
He pleaded guilty Tuesday to fourth-degree drunken driving in exchange for dropping the charge of refusing a third-degree test.
Flattening was Found unresponsive in his crashed police car on July 18 in Gennessee Township, according to court documents. Witnesses said he ran a stop sign in his police car and swerved “all the way” before the crash. Another witness said he saw the police car roll five or six times.
He was airlifted to a hospital, where he refused a blood sample, the documents said. A state trooper at the hospital observed “an odor of alcoholic beverage” coming from Flatten and that his speech was slurred and he had bloodshot, glassy eyes, the complaint said.
In August, Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Tollefson said Flatten has been on critical incident leave since the crash and will continue to await the outcome of an internal investigation and criminal proceedings.
WCCO personnel
