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Police stop pickup with sleeping driver
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[October 11, 2007]
RICHFIELD, Minn. (AP) -- Police say a 26-year-old St. Louis Park man was asleep at the wheel of his pickup as it drove down the street before dawn on Sunday. He didn't wake when the truck crossed the centerline, or when an officer ran up and jumped on the running board, reached inside and put the truck in neutral.
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 The criminal complaint said Pedro Fernando Brito, 26, was undisturbed when the officer stopped the truck and pulled out the keys.
Then the officer got his attention. "Police had to shake the defendant's shoulder and yell at him to wake him up," the complaint said.
"This is a weird one. Strange," Richfield police Lt. Todd Sandel said. "He was out to the world, behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. We were lucky it was 3:30 a.m."
Brito was charged with driving while intoxicated, refusing to submit to a test for alcohol and driving while his license was revoked. The charges are all misdemeanors.
There was no phone listing for Brito and he could not be reached for comment Wednesday. He was no longer in custody. A message was left at the public defender's office by The Associated Press to see if an attorney had been assigned to him.
The complaint said a resident called police to report a sleeping driver. A patrolman saw the 2004 Dodge Ram going slowly, crossing the centerline in this Minneapolis suburb.
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The criminal complaint said the driver "appeared to be sleeping,
leaning back behind the wheel and not touching the steering wheel."
Brito denied having anything to drink, but the officer says Brito's eyes were watery and bloodshot and his balance was poor.
Officers found Brito's license had been revoked after a March 2006 conviction for driving while impaired.
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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press,
http://www.twincities.com/
[Associated Press]
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