A man was found unconscious in the driver’s seat of a running vehicle blocking traffic in downtown Minneapolis with nearly 30 grams of fentanyl in his bag, according to the complaint.

Phillip Stinson Jr., 57, is charged in Hennepin County District Court with first-degree drug possession, third-degree drug possession, fifth-degree drug possession and two counts of driving while impaired, in a complaint filed October 30.

According to the complaint, officers with the Minneapolis Police Department responded to the area of 12th Street North and Glenwood Avenue on August 7 after a report of an individual slumped in a vehicle. Officers found the vehicle blocking eastbound traffic and saw a man, later identified as Phillip Stinson Jr., unconscious in the driver’s seat with the engine running and the windows rolled down.

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Officers opened the doors and woke Stinson. The complaint says he was wearing a black cross body bag and that lighters and clear plastic baggies were scattered throughout the vehicle. Officers observed that Stinson’s eyes were yellow and his pupils constricted. After conducting field sobriety tests, officers noted many clues of impairment and arrested Stinson for driving while impaired.

Police began towing procedures and conducted an inventory search of the vehicle. The complaint states that near the driver’s seat, officers found a substance that field tested positive for fentanyl and weighed 0.36 grams. In the black cross body bag, officers found two more baggies, one containing 5.39 grams of fentanyl and the other 29.98 grams.

Officers obtained a search warrant for a sample of Stinson’s blood or urine, which was collected at Hennepin County Medical Center. The sample was sent to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which reported on September 30 that the sample contained fentanyl.

The charges include first-degree drug possession for allegedly possessing 25 grams or more of fentanyl, third-degree drug possession for possessing 5 grams or more of fentanyl, fifth-degree drug possession for possessing a controlled substance and two counts of driving while impaired, one for operating a motor vehicle with any amount of a Schedule I or II drug or metabolite and one for operating under the influence of a controlled substance.

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Jurisdictional Context

Hennepin County is Minnesota’s most populous jurisdiction. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office handles felony prosecutions across Minneapolis and 44 other cities; the Fourth Judicial District presides over felony arraignments and trials at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis.