{"id":20037,"date":"2026-02-24T15:55:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=20037"},"modified":"2026-02-21T13:25:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T19:25:34","slug":"becker-brainerd-man-faces-felony-dwi-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/becker-brainerd-man-faces-felony-dwi-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Becker: Brainerd Man Faces Felony DWI Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Sherburne County<\/strong> (<a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Brainerd man faces felony charges after a traffic stop in Becker Township.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Leon John Walker<\/strong>, 62, is charged with two counts of felony first-degree DWI. He also faces a gross misdemeanor count. The case includes several traffic-related counts.<\/p>\n<h2>What the police say happened<\/h2>\n<p>According to a criminal complaint, police stopped a silver minivan on February 12, 2026. The stop happened near Highway 10 and 137th Street. It was around 4:26 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>Police said the van matched a vehicle tied to a recent hit-and-run. Officers said the driver weaved in the lane. They also reported centerline crossings. They said the van followed other cars too closely.<\/p>\n<p>Corrections staff also reported an email alert that day. The alert said an ankle monitor may have been tampered with.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20038\" style=\"width: 229px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-20038\" src=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leon-John-Walker-229x300.png\" alt=\"Leon John Walker\" width=\"229\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leon-John-Walker-229x300.png 229w, https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leon-John-Walker.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 229px) 100vw, 229px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Leon John Walker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Signs of impairment<\/h2>\n<p>Police identified the driver as Walker. The complaint says his eyes looked bloodshot and watery. Officers also reported slurred speech. Police said they saw a bottle that looked like vodka. It was on the floorboard.<\/p>\n<p>Walker told police he was involved in a crash. The complaint places it near Clearwater or Clear Lake. He allegedly said he \u201cmade a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Police asked Walker to do field sobriety tests. The complaint says he refused. Police then arrested him for DWI.<\/p>\n<p>A Datamaster breath test later showed a reported alcohol concentration of .17. The complaint says the test happened at 5:20 p.m.<\/p>\n<h2>Hit-and-run claim<\/h2>\n<p>Police also spoke with the reported crash victim in Clear Lake. The complaint says she was stopped in a left turn lane. The location was Main Avenue.<\/p>\n<p>The victim said a silver van hit the back of her vehicle. She said the van drove around her and left. The complaint says she reported a sore neck. She planned to seek medical care.<\/p>\n<h2>Prior history and license status<\/h2>\n<p>Court records listed in the complaint show prior DWI convictions. The dates listed were May 2025, March 2025, and November 2022. The complaint says Walker\u2019s license was canceled at the time. It was listed as canceled as a public safety measure.<\/p>\n<h2>Charges filed<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Two counts of felony first-degree DWI.<\/li>\n<li>One count of gross misdemeanor criminal vehicular operation.<\/li>\n<li>One count of traffic collision for failure to stop.<\/li>\n<li>One count of driving after cancellation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Learn more<\/h2>\n<p>You can look up Minnesota court case records online through <a href=\"https:\/\/publicaccess.courts.state.mn.us\/CaseSearch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MCRO<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!-- :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0} --><\/p>\n<p>For Minnesota DWI statutes, see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.revisor.mn.gov\/statutes\/cite\/169A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Minnesota Statutes Chapter 169A<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!-- :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1} --><\/p>\n<p>For impaired driving safety resources, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhtsa.gov\/risky-driving\/drunk-driving\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NHTSA\u2019s drunk driving page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!-- :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2} --><\/p>\n<p>For local court location details, see <a href=\"https:\/\/mncourts.gov\/find-courts\/sherburne\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sherburne County District Court<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!-- :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3} --><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m Chris Harper reporting for <a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sherburne County (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 A Brainerd man faces felony charges after a traffic stop in Becker Township. Leon John Walker, 62, is charged with two counts of felony first-degree DWI. He also faces a gross misdemeanor count. The case includes several traffic-related counts. What the police say happened According to a criminal complaint, police stopped&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/becker-brainerd-man-faces-felony-dwi-charges\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Becker: Brainerd Man Faces Felony DWI Charges<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[13827,927,13823,13824,2621,4875,959,13828,772,7410,13810,2891,883,960,961,13826,5612,13825,151,3245,1025,3668,786],"class_list":["post-20037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-17-breath-test","tag-becker","tag-becker-mn","tag-becker-township","tag-brainerd","tag-brainerd-mn","tag-charges","tag-clear-lake-mn","tag-crime","tag-criminal-vehicular-operation","tag-datamaster","tag-driving-after-cancellation","tag-dwi","tag-faces","tag-felony","tag-felony-first-degree-dwi","tag-hit-and-run","tag-leon-john-walker","tag-man","tag-mcro","tag-minnesota-court-records","tag-sherburne-county","tag-trf-news","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20037"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20040,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20037\/revisions\/20040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}