{"id":27946,"date":"2026-05-05T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=27946"},"modified":"2026-05-03T15:14:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T20:14:21","slug":"bemidji-man-charged-in-mcdonalds-dwi-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/bemidji-man-charged-in-mcdonalds-dwi-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Bemidji Man Charged In McDonald\u2019s DWI Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bemidji<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Bemidji man is facing a gross misdemeanor DWI charge after a reported driving complaint at McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n

David Lee Staples, of Bemidji, is charged in Beltrami County District Court.<\/p>\n

The charge is third-degree DWI involving an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more within two hours.<\/p>\n

The complaint lists the case as court file number 04-CR-26-944.<\/p>\n

The alleged incident happened on April 26, 2026, in the City of Bemidji.<\/p>\n

Vehicle Complaint At McDonald\u2019s<\/h2>\n

According to the complaint, police responded to McDonald\u2019s at about 9:46 p.m.<\/p>\n

A caller reported that a Chrysler 300 was swerving.<\/p>\n

The caller also said the vehicle hit the curb several times.<\/p>\n

The vehicle was later reported to have pulled into McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Police found the Chrysler in the drive-thru, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

The driver was identified as David Lee Staples.<\/p>\n

The complaint says Staples had slurred speech and bloodshot, watery eyes.<\/p>\n

Police also reported that Staples seemed confused.<\/p>\n

He also had trouble answering questions, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

\"Mugshot
David Lee Staples<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Breath Test Results Listed<\/h2>\n

The complaint says Staples was asked to move to a parking spot.<\/p>\n

Police reported that he was too close to the building to exit safely.<\/p>\n

Staples agreed to field sobriety testing, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Police reported he showed poor balance while standing near a squad car.<\/p>\n

The complaint says Staples did not complete field sobriety testing in a satisfactory way.<\/p>\n

A preliminary breath test showed a result of 0.180, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Staples was then arrested and taken to the Beltrami County Jail.<\/p>\n

At the jail, he was read the breath test advisory.<\/p>\n

He asked to speak with an attorney, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

After ending the attorney’s time, Staples agreed to a DMT breath test.<\/p>\n

The complaint says the DMT test returned a result of 0.17 at 10:32 p.m.<\/p>\n

Prior DWI History Cited<\/h2>\n

The complaint says Staples has a prior gross misdemeanor DWI from 2006.<\/p>\n

It also cites a prior qualifying impaired-driving offense from August 2002.<\/p>\n

The current charge carries up to 364 days in jail.<\/p>\n

It also carries a possible fine of up to $3,000.<\/p>\n

The DWI charge cites Minnesota Statute 169A.20<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The third-degree DWI statute is listed under Minnesota Statute 169A.26<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Beltrami County District Court is part of Minnesota\u2019s Ninth Judicial District.<\/p>\n

More court information is available from the Minnesota Judicial Branch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Staples is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

I’m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bemidji (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 A Bemidji man is facing a gross misdemeanor DWI charge after a reported driving complaint at McDonald\u2019s. David Lee Staples, of Bemidji, is charged in Beltrami County District Court. The charge is third-degree DWI involving an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more within two hours. The complaint lists the case as court… Continue reading Bemidji Man Charged In McDonald\u2019s DWI Case<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27948,"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":[11498,10084,17190,17191,1314,786],"class_list":["post-27946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-beltrami-county-dwi","tag-bemidji-dwi","tag-david-lee-staples","tag-mcdonalds-drive-thru","tag-minnesota-dwi","tag-trf-news","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27946","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=27946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}