Kamala Harris VP pick Tim Walz was arrested for drunk driving and gave a surprising explanation to officers: How driving drunk going 96 in a 55 mph zone changed his life

Tim Walz was arrested in Nebraska in 1995 and charged with driving under the influence.

The progressive Minnesota governor, who was chosen as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate on Tuesday, no longer drinks alcohol or coffee.

Although he was initially charged with driving under the influence and speeding, Walz reached a plea agreement that reduced the charges to a single count of reckless driving.

The incident recurred during Walz’s first campaign for Congress in 2006. A campaign manager dismissed the accusation, claiming that Walz “was not drunk.” They “attributed the misunderstanding to Walz’s deafness.”

An image of Walz’s arrest photo is reportedly circulating on conservative social media in an attempt to smear the new Democratic nominee for vice president.

The governor is a big fan of Diet Mountain Dew, but he no longer drinks coffee and quit drinking alcohol some time after his arrest in Nebraska.

Walz was a newlywed teacher in Nebraska nearly three decades ago when he was pulled over and arrested for driving 96 miles per hour in a 55-mph zone. He was serving in the Army National Guard at the time.

According to the police report dated September 25, 1995, he failed the officer’s breath test and the field test.

“A strong odor of alcoholic beverage was detected on Mr. Walz’s breath and on his person,” the Nebraska State Trooper’s report said.

Walz was taken to Chadron Hospital for a blood test and booked into the Dawes County Jail.

According to a court report, Walz had a blood-alcohol content of .128.

But the governor’s team insisted he had hearing problems from his time in the National Guard, which led to miscommunication. He also claimed his deafness caused “balance issues,” which could have caused him to fail the alcohol test.

An article in the Rochester Post Bulletin is one of the few reports of Walz’s drunken driving and states that his hearing problems have been “surgically corrected” in the years since his arrest.

At the time of his arrest, Walz was teaching and living in Nebraska with his new wife, Gwen, to whom he is still married and has two children. He also served in the Army National Guard

A police report of the incident shows that Walz failed a field sobriety test and a preliminary breath test before being taken to Chadron Hospital for a blood test on September 23, 1995.

“He couldn’t understand what the officer was saying to him,” Walz’s campaign manager said in the 2006 article.

But the police officer’s report and the court transcript make no mention of any problems with the hearing.

It appears that the officer did not recognize Walz’s deafness, which is why the blood test results were withheld during the trial. They could not have been used as evidence against him if the case had gone to trial.

But the results were still mentioned during a plea agreement hearing on March 13, 1996.