Officers observed that the vehicle was accelerating rapidly, apparently in an attempt to flee Officers. This same vehicle had been encountered by Officers the night prior and it had succeeded in fleeing Officers at that time. The driver of the vehicle was later identified as Peter Raymon White, [DOB REDACTED] (Defendant). Officers attempted to initiate a traffic stop of the vehicle. The vehicle did not stop its travel despite Officers activating their emergency lights. Instead, the vehicle continued to travel at a high rate of speed (50 miles per hour in a 30 mile per hour zone) and switched its vehicle lights off.
In attempting to flee, the vehicle drove through a yard and onto railroad tracks. Defendant got out of the vehicle and began fleeing on foot. Officers pursued the driver on foot. Officers caught up to Defendant and ordered him to the ground. Defendant refused to cooperate. Officers threatened Defendant that they would taze him if he did not comply, but Defendant continued to ignore Officers’ orders. Defendant eventually slowed down to a walk due to being out of breath but continued to try and walk away from Officers.
Eventually, Defendant came to a stop, additional law enforcement arrived on scene, and Defendant submitted to being arrested. In the process of arresting Defendant, Officers observed that Defendant smelled of alcoholic beverage. Officers located over $7,000 in cash on Defendant’s person. A key fob was located on the ground along Defendant’s path of foot travel. This key fob was tested, and it activated the vehicle Officers had seen Defendant drive and then flee from. A cell phone and bottle of what appeared to be pink lemonade was located near the vehicle.
The pink lemonade smelled strongly of alcoholic beverage when examined. Defendant claimed the cell phone but denied ownership of the beverage. Officers provided Defendant his Miranda warning and Defendant elected to speak with Officers. He apologized for having fled and said he was already in trouble with his probation officer. Officers observed that Defendant’s eyes were bloodshot and watery and that he was slurring his speech. Officers requested standardized field sobriety tests and a preliminary breath test, but Defendant refused.
Defendant was then transported to the Winona County Jail. Officers requested a search warrant for Defendant’s blood and/or urine. This was signed off on by a District Court Judge. Officers provided the search warrant to Defendant and requested that he provide a blood or urine sample, and informed Defendant that failure to cooperate would be a crime. Defendant refused to cooperate with the execution of the search warrant. Officers later listened to Defendant’s jail calls. In the course of the calls, Defendant seemed to imply that he had possessed controlled substances of some kind but had discarded them in the course of his interactions with Officers.
