Semi driver accused of .29 at 10 a.m. in BP

A man from Canada was scheduled to make his first court appearance earlier this week after being accused of driving a semitrailer down U.S. Highway 218 in Blooming Prairie with a blood alcohol count more than seven times the legal limit for commercial vehicles.

Vishavdeep Singh Dhindsa, 33, of Barrie, Ontario, faces two gross misdemeanor counts of third-degree DWI.

It is believed to be one of the highest alcohol levels recorded on Minnesota roadways, but not the highest. According to Dave Boxum, spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, the highest recorded BAC with a violation in a commercial vehicle is .39, though no specific details were immediately known about that case. In a separate case, the highest recorded BAC with violation where the driver had a CDL but not necessarily driving a commercial vehicle at the time is .44, Boxum said.

The most recent case began shortly after 10:30 a.m. May 29, when a Blooming Prairie police officer was flagged down by a woman who said she’d been following a semi as it traveled south on U.S. 218 into town. She told the officer the truck had almost gone off the highway multiple times.

The officer drove south through town; he saw a semi traveling very slowly and driving over the fog line in front of Casey’s General Store. As the officer followed the truck, the driver “could not maintain his line and continued to drive very slowly,” the report says.

He initiated a traffic stop about a block later, stepped up to the second step of the cab and “immediately” noted the very strong odor of alcohol, bloodshot/water eyes and slurred speech of the driver, later identified as Dhindsa, according to the criminal complaint.

Dhindsa told the officer he drank “last night,” the complaint continues, adding that he was hard to understand and clearly intoxicated.

Court documents say Dhindsa failed the standard field sobriety tests and refused to submit to a preliminary breath test. He was arrested at the scene; a search of the vehicle allegedly turned up three empty Steel Reserve alcohol containers.

Once at the Steele County Detention Center, Dhindsa agreed to submit to a breath test, which indicated a blood alcohol content of .29, the court document says.

He was taken to Allina Hospital in Owatonna when staff at the detention center said they could not hold Dhindsa for court because of his high alcohol concentration level.

In Minnesota, the legal blood alcohol concentration limit for operating a commercial motor vehicle is .04, half the standard .08 for regular drivers.