Ted Mondale - Former V.P. Mondale's son arrested on charge of suspected drunken driving
May 9, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS – The son of former Vice President Walter Mondale was arrested and booked early Wednesday on suspicion of drunken driving.
Ted Mondale said he went to a Twins game Tuesday night and then to dinner with friends downtown, drinking a couple of beers at the game and wine with his meal.
“I'm guilty,” the former state senator and one-time candidate for governor. “Whatever the punishment, I'm going to obviously accept it and never do that again.”
Mondale, 49, said a State Patrol trooper stopped him on a highway as he headed to his St. Louis Park home. The trooper told him he was speeding and then asked whether he had been drinking, Mondale said.
Mondale said he admitted drinking, took field sobriety tests and was taken to the Hennepin County jail. On the advice of his attorney, Mondale said he refused to take a blood-alcohol test at the jail.
He posted bail and was expected to appear in court May 23.
Mondale, who has no previous arrests, said he didn't dispute his impairment with the trooper.
“I made an error in judgment,” he said. “I shouldn't have got in my car.”
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Ted Mondale - DUI guilty plea gives Mondale probation
May 19, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS, May 19 (UPI) -- Former Minnesota state senator Ted Mondale pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a drunk driving incident and was sentenced to one year of probation.
In addition to his probation sentence, the former state official was sentenced in Hennepin County District Court this week to community and applicable fines as part of his guilty plea from the May 9 incident, the Star Tribune said Saturday.
As part of his plea, the Minneapolis metropolitan council chairman agreed to a fourth-degree misdemeanor and its corresponding penalties.
He will now be required to attend an education class as part of his plea and undergo a chemical dependency test.
The newspaper said that after entering his plea Wednesday, Mondale admitted his error in driving home on I-394 after drinking several alcoholic drinks at a Minnesota Twins game.
"I just hope that young people don't use my mistake as something they do. I hope to be looked at as a bad example, not a good example," Mondale said. "I made an error in judgment, and I think this is set up so the people don't think the choices I made are good ones."
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