Collett cited twice for drinking and driving

Source: collettforcongress.com

Teresa Collett, the GOP-endorsed candidate to take on Rep. Betty McCollum in November, has been cited for drinking and driving twice in the past 4 years, the Star Tribune reports. Collett is a law professor at the University of St. Thomas and has testified at the Minnesota Capitol that if same-sex marriage is legalized, pastors and religious parents will be arrested for opposing those weddings. She’s also been part of legal actions in several states aimed at making abortion illegal.

According to the Star Tribune, she was arrested in May 2006 in Minnetonka after a motorist and an officer noticed her swerving into the oncoming lane.

Collett’s blood-alcohol content was 0.17 percent — more than twice the 0.08 percent legal limit — and the officer ended a field sobriety test prematurely because Collett repeatedly lost her balance, according to a police report.

“Ms. Collett told me that she was supposed to have a talk with her husband tonight about her drinking,” the officer wrote.

And just a few months earlier, she failed a breathalyzer but the officer let her go with a lesser charge.

In February 2006, Collett was cited for careless driving near Duluth. She drove her car into a snowbank while on a cell phone, according to police records. According to the police report, a state trooper determined her blood-alcohol level was 0.083 percent — slightly above the legal limit — but let her off with a careless driving citation. Collett said he told her to pull into a nearby gas station and wait 30 minutes before driving. She paid a small fine.

The article notes that Collett told GOP chair Tony Sutton about the citations after she was endorsed by the party.