On December 13, 2025, around 1:20 A.M., a trooper with the Minnesota State Patrol responded to a driving complaint on east Highway 12 in Long Lake, Hennepin County, Minnesota. The reporting party relayed that a vehicle was weaving over the lane lines, varying its speeds, and continued driving after striking a snowbank near the median wall. A trooper called the reporting party, who continued to observe the same driving conduct. The reporting party described the suspect vehicle as a gray sedan and provided its Minnesota license plate.
The trooper located the suspect vehicle on north U. S. Highway 169 coming from east Interstate Highway 394. The trooper noted that the vehicle weaved over the lane lines and varied its speeds. The trooper activated his squad’s emergency lights for a traffic stop. The vehicle was slow to stop but eventually pulled over on U. S. 169 past Plymouth Avenue North in Hennepin County, Minnesota. The trooper identified the driver and sole occupant as Defendant JUSTIN SAMUEL SCHADEN, born on [DOB REDACTED]. Defendant’s driver’s license was Canceled—Inimical to Public Safety.
The trooper noted that Defendant had bloodshot eyes, low, raspy, and delayed speech patterns, slow motor movements, lack of fine motor skills, and droopy eyelids. In addition, the trooper smelled a strong chem odor from inside the vehicle consistent with the smell of a burned chemical compound similar to methamphetamine and/or fentanyl. The trooper continued to smell this odor from Defendant once he exited his vehicle. Defendant did not have a valid driver’s license. He told the trooper that he felt fine to drive and explained that he was driving home to Coon Rapids from Litchfield.
Defendant disclosed that he had last used prescribed methadone about 12 hours earlier. Defendant performed standardized field sobriety tests. On the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test, the trooper observed a lack of smooth pursuit and onset of nystagmus before 45 degrees. Both of Defendant’s pupils were approximately 4mm with a very delayed reaction to light. On the Modified Romberg test, Defendant took 35 seconds to estimate 30 seconds. He swayed back and forth while leaning against the trooper’s squad push bumper and displayed a poor perception of time.
On the Finger to Nose test, the trooper noticed four out of six corrections. Defendant had a poor perception of distance and swayed. Defendant had an elevated pulse of 148 beats per minute. Based on his observations, the trooper arrested Defendant. In Defendant’s front jeans pockets, the trooper located a propane torch and a small glass pipe. The pipe had brown burned residue near the bulb and a white deposit on the inner wall of the tube. Inside Defendant’s vehicle, the trooper located three improvised straws commonly used for smoking a controlled substance and a propane torch.
