Mower County sees 13 December DWI arrests

Published 7:58 am Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Mower County contributed 13 DWI arrests to the December-long, statewide increased DWI enforcement that raked in 2,399 total arrests.

Eleven of the 13 arrests took place within the Austin city limits, according to dispatch statistics, and two occurred in the greater county area.

Sheriff Terese Amazi said the Sheriff’s Department participated in the increased enforcement efforts, but was unable to fill all available time slots due to manpower shortages.

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“We’ve had one (individual) out with medical,” Amazi said. “We’ve been short on manpower. We had a few shifts filled.”

Amazi said the county typically comes in with more than two DWI arrests around the holidays.

Consequences for a DWI include loss of license for up to a year, up to $20,000 in legal costs and increased insurance rates and possible jail time.

More than 140 people are killed in alcohol-related crashes and 30,000 or more people are arrested for DWI each year in Minnesota, according to the Department of Public Safety.