By Robb Murray
— Mankato Mayor John Brady’s blood alcohol content was three times the legal limit to drive when he was arrested, and police say he was so intoxicated that it sounded like he was speaking a foreign language.
In court documents filed this week in Hennepin County District Court, authorities say Brady initially failed to stop for police but finally pulled over, exited his vehicle at an officer’s request and needed to lean on the vehicle to remain standing.
The incident — which involved two separate traffic crashes Saturday afternoon — has resulted in four misdemeanor charges against Brady, a 14-year member of the Mankato City Council.
Golden Valley police say they began following him Saturday afternoon after the State Patrol put out a call of a hit and run driver.
The officer spotted Brady on Interstate 394 and began following him, and says he witnessed Brady driving erratically and well below the speed limit.
Police say that, as Brady approached an intersection where cars were stopped at a red light, Brady rear-ended a Lexus. By this time, the officer had activated his squad car lights and was trying to get Brady to pull over.
After hitting that car, police say, Brady continued down the road and sped up, nearly hitting another car as he drove down Hennepin County Road 73.
Brady eventually pulled over, police say, and remained in his car for several minutes doing nothing while the officer asked him with a loudspeaker to surrender his keys and exit the vehicle.
Brady finally tossed his keys out the window and exited the car. The officer said Brady had difficulty standing and speaking, but he managed to admit to the officer that he’d been drinking. The officer could also see an open bottle of Smirnoff vodka in the car.
The officer says he put Brady through a series of field sobriety tests, all of which he failed. The officers also said Brady had such difficulty speaking that he thought Brady may have been speaking a foreign language. Brady nearly fell over at one point, court documents say, and the officer held him up.
The two crashes in Golden Valley were actually the second and third for Brady that day. At about 7 a.m., he was involved in a minor crash near Jordan, but authorities say they don’t believe alcohol was a factor in that crash. It was the Jordan crash, however, that caused him to miss his flight to China. Brady, who ended up catching a later flight, is in China this week on a mission to promote an aviation partnership between China and Minnesota State University.
Brady, who is seeking reelection this fall, is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 13.
