Reaction to Walz's 1995 drunk driving arrest under scrutiny

ROCHESTER, Minnesota (KTTC) – Before entering the political stage, Tim Walz was arrested in Nebraska for drunk driving.

Now that he is the Democratic vice presidential nominee, it is not so much the 1995 arrest that is drawing attention, but rather how Walz handled media questions about it during his first campaign.

On Thursday, KTTC reviewed court and police records related to the case, which occurred in Dawes County, Nebraska, when Walz was working as a teacher.

According to those records, Walz, then 31, was stopped by a police officer on September 23, 1995, for driving 96 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone. The officer noted that he smelled a strong odor of alcohol on Walz's breath. He failed his sobriety and preliminary breath tests. According to the records, a blood test at the hospital showed a blood alcohol content of 0.128%; the legal limit in Nebraska at the time was 0.10%.

Walz was taken to the county jail and charged with two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol and speeding.

On March 13, 1996, Walz pleaded guilty and was fined $200.

In the written court record, Judge Walz, who was overseeing the case, asked why it was illegal to drive with a blood alcohol level of 0.128 percent.

Walz replied: “[It’s] not just legally. It's just a dangerous situation, Your Honor, not just for me, but for others who – who aren't even involved in it.”

Fast forward to 2006: Walz lives in Minnesota and is running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

When asked by the media about his 1995 case, his congressional campaign team said Walz had not been drinking when he was stopped in Nebraska and failed the breathalyzer test due to a misunderstanding related to hearing loss resulting from his time in the Army National Guard.

In a September 2006 statement to KTTC's sister station, KEYC in Mankato, a campaign spokeswoman said, “The DUI charge was dropped for one reason: it was not true.” She added, “The officer had him drive to the station and then drive away on his own.”

The Nebraska court records provide a different account than the statement made by Walz's campaign in 2006.

In a written statement, the police officer who arrested Walz in 1995 said he took him to the hospital for a blood test and then transported him to the county jail, where he was booked.

Fast forward to 2018: When Walz ran for governor of Minnesota, he presented a different version of events.

He described his arrest as a “life-changing moment” that motivated him to change his behavior and quit drinking.

As of Thursday evening, neither the Harris-Walz campaign nor the governor's office had responded to KTTC's request for comment on why his former campaign staff made false statements.

According to the Associated Press, Walz had to undergo ear surgery in 2005 to correct his hearing loss.

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