On June 11, 2026, at approximately 4:26 A.M., Bloomington Police Officers were on patrol on Bloomington Ferry Road, in Hennepin County, Minnesota, when they observed a vehicle with a non-functioning break light and expired license plate. Officers also observed the driver of the vehicle reaching into the center console. Officers conducted a traffic stop of the vehicle based upon these violations. Officers made contact with the vehicle’s occupants and identified the driver as DAMIEN STEPHEN DONAHUE, ([DOB redacted]), hereafter Defendant.
Officers also noted two female passengers in the vehicle. The front seat passenger was identified as having the initials J. C., and the back seat passenger was identified as having the initials S. G. Upon approaching the vehicle, Defendant immediately began questioning Officers as to the basis for the traffic stop, failing to consistently answer basic questions about where he was coming and going from, and mumbling and avoiding eye contact with Officers. J. C. Repeatedly answered for Defendant when he struggled to answer Officer’s questions.
When Officers asked who owned the vehicle, Defendant stated that he was purchasing it. Officers requested that Defendant provide proof of insurance for the vehicle. Defendant reached into the center console to retrieve his insurance card. While Defendant had the center console open, Officers observed a zip lock bag containing a green leafy material which Officers suspected to be marijuana and a glass bubble pipe containing white and burnt residue which Officers suspected to be methamphetamine. Officers instructed the vehicle’s occupants to exit the vehicle to search it.
Defendant began to deny that there were any controlled substances in the vehicle but kept looking back at it with apparent discomfort. Defendant stated that he had had the vehicle for approximately a month but had parked it while out of town. Defendant first stated that he was out of town for two weeks, then changed his answer to three weeks, then changed it to four weeks. Both J. C. And S. G. Advised Officers that they had no property in the vehicle. During a search of the vehicle, Officers located the following: I. 108.7 grams of field-tested positive methamphetamine, located in a tin pan underneath the back seat of the vehicle.
II. A small scale and plastic baggies located behind the passenger seat in the back seat netting. III. 377.66 grams of field-tested positive methamphetamine, located in a backpack in the trunk (accessible to the passenger compartment). IV. Another small scale with white powder residue on it and more plastic baggies, located in the same backpack in the trunk. V. 22 pills identified as Methylphenidate Hydrochloride (a Schedule II controlled substance) inside an unmarked prescription pill bottle. Additional drug paraphernalia was located throughout the vehicle, including in the driver’s door.
