WILLMAR, Minn. — A Kandiyohi deputy finds himself on the wrong side of the law after being charged with driving drunk and rolling his squad vehicle while on duty.
The criminal complaint filed against Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Deputy Christopher Todd Flatten last week charges him with 4th-degree DWI and refusing to take a blood or urine test. The allegations involve a single-vehicle crash that took place the evening of July 18 in Gennessee Township.
Prosecutors say law enforcement was dispatched to a rural area on County Road 4 just before 6:30 p.m. A 911 caller told dispatchers that a squad SUV had rolled several times, was sitting in a field, and that the uniformed deputy inside was unresponsive.
Two Minnesota State Troopers arrived on the scene and found the 2018 Explorer heavily damaged and resting on its side. They extricated the driver, soon identified as Deputy Flatten, before he was airlifted for medical treatment.
A witness told investigators that he was driving in a semi and headed eastbound on U.S. Highway 12 when he saw a squad vehicle turn onto the highway without stopping at a stop sign. The trucker followed the squad down Highway 12, noting that the vehicle was "all over the road," at times being over the center line by as much as three-quarters of the Explorer and then swerving onto the grass of the shoulder. This reportedly continued until the squad turned southbound on Kandiyohi County Road 4.
A second witness who was traveling towards County Road 4 told troopers he saw the squad leave the road and hit the ditch, rolling the vehicle five or six times.
Based on their descriptions of what happened one of the state troopers obtained a search warrant for a sample of Flatten's blood. Investigators went to the medical facility where the deputy was being treated and told him that refusing to provide a blood or urine sample was a crime. According to the complaint, Flatten refused to provide a sample and would not provide a statement about what happened. While speaking with Flatten troopers noted that he smelled of alcohol, his eyes were bloodshot and glassy and his speech was slurred.
Both charges filed against Christopher Flatten are Gross Misdemeanors.