MN State Patrol: Driver Of I35 Rollover In Duluth Arrested For DWI

DULUTH, Minn. (Thursday) — The Minnesota State Patrol told FOX 21 on Thursday that the driver who rolled his vehicle on I-35 in downtown Duluth last week was arrested for DWI.

Video from a MnDOT camera on Southbound I-35 near the Lake Avenue exit shows a 2022 Dodge Charger rolling multiple times.

A public information officer for the Minnesota State Patrol said a 26-year-old man was behind the wheel when he lost control around 1:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 17.

FOX 21 was made aware of the rollover after “Minnesota Crime” posted the MnDOT video online Wednesday evening.

The driver was not injured, according to the State Patrol.

The St. Louis County Jail said the suspect was arrested at 1:45 a.m. and booked at the jail at 3:30 a.m. on three preliminary charges, including Third-Degree Driving While Impaired (gross misdemeanor), DWI-Operate Motor Vehicle Under Influence of Alcohol (misdemeanor), and DUI-.08 or More in 2 Hrs (misdemeanor).

A spokesperson for the Minnesota State Patrol told FOX 21 this incident was not reported to the agency’s online incident reporting page because there were no injuries or fatalities.  The rollover is considered a “property damage crash.”

“There were no injuries in this crash, thankfully, which is why it was added to our media web page.  The incidents that we add to our media web page are injury and fatal crashes.  With the exception of the metro. The metro districts only add serious injury and fatal crashes to the media web page.  If we added all injury (non-life threatening injuries) that occur in the metro, it would be too many to post with the amount of crashes we respond too,” according to Lt Jill Frankfurth, public information officer for the Minnesota State Patrol.

After requesting a full incident report, the name of the suspect was provided to FOX 21.  FOX 21 does not normally name suspects until they are formally charged.  The case is being handled by the Duluth City Attorney’s Office, according to the State Patrol.

This story was updated Friday to provide clarification on when the Minnesota State Patrol publicly posts traffic incidents online, and that the agency provided the name of the suspect after a formal request for the full incident report.

DULUTH, Minn. (Wednesday) — We are getting our first look at a wild single-vehicle rollover on I-35 in downtown Duluth.

The video from a Minnesota Department of Transportation camera shows the accident near Southbound 256B exit, which leads to Lake Avenue.

A vehicle, appearing to be driving at a high rate of speed, rolled multiple times before landing on its wheels just before the entrance to the tunnel.

The video was first posted on Facebook Wednesday evening by Minnesota Crime, which is a reputable tracker of crime throughout the state.

Minnesota Crime says the rollover happened at 1:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 17.

Wednesday evening, FOX 21 checked Minnesota State Patrol’s incident reports for Nov. 17, but there was no such incident reported for the rollover.  So, it was not known Wednesday the condition of the driver or a possible cause, like alcohol.

The Duluth Police Department told FOX 21 late Wednesday that they “did not investigate a matching incident at that time.”

We’ve reached out to the Minnesota State Patrol for official information, as that agency normally handles I-35 incidents.