{"id":57710,"date":"2026-10-09T15:12:52","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T20:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=57710"},"modified":"2026-10-07T09:38:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T14:38:59","slug":"pennington-county-man-charged-after-0-26-dwi-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/pennington-county-man-charged-after-0-26-dwi-test\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennington County: Man Charged After 0.26 DWI Test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pennington County: Man Charged After 0.26 DWI Test<\/h2>\n

PENNINGTON COUNTY, Minn.<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me)<\/a> \u2014 An Otsego man faces a second-degree DWI charge following a traffic stop on Highway 59 North.<\/p>\n

Brian Jeffrey Culkins, 64, was arrested after the stop on October 4.<\/p>\n

The traffic stop occurred at about 8:58 p.m., according to the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

Culkins is charged with second-degree DWI involving two or more aggravating factors.<\/p>\n

Deputy Reports Signs of Impairment<\/h2>\n

A Pennington County sheriff’s deputy performed the traffic stop along Highway 59 North.<\/p>\n

The complaint states the deputy noticed signs that Culkins may have been impaired.<\/p>\n

Culkins then participated in field sobriety testing.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, he failed the field sobriety tests.<\/p>\n

A preliminary breath test was then administered.<\/p>\n

The complaint lists the preliminary result at 0.20.<\/p>\n

Later Test Reportedly Shows 0.26<\/h2>\n

A later breath test produced a reported alcohol concentration of 0.26, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Minnesota law considers an alcohol concentration of 0.16 or higher an aggravating DWI factor.<\/p>\n

The complaint also lists a prior DWI conviction involving Culkins.<\/p>\n

That conviction occurred in 2022, according to the court filing.<\/p>\n

A qualifying impaired-driving incident within the previous 10 years can also count as an aggravating factor.<\/p>\n

Those two alleged factors form the basis for the listed second-degree DWI charge.<\/p>\n

Second-Degree DWI Charge Filed<\/h2>\n

Minnesota law classifies second-degree DWI as a gross misdemeanor.<\/p>\n

Two or more aggravating factors can elevate an impaired-driving allegation to second-degree DWI.<\/p>\n

Readers can review Minnesota Statute 169A.25<\/a> for second-degree DWI provisions.<\/p>\n

Definitions of DWI aggravating factors are available under Minnesota Statute 169A.03<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Case Remains Pending<\/h2>\n

The allegations contained in a criminal complaint do not establish guilt.<\/p>\n

Culkins is presumed innocent unless proven guilty through the court process.<\/p>\n

Charges may also be amended, dismissed, or otherwise changed as the case proceeds.<\/p>\n

Public court information may be available through Minnesota Court Records Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/small><\/p>\n

\"Pennington<\/a>
Pennington County: Man Charged After 0.26 DWI Test<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brian Jeffrey Culkins, 64, faces second-degree DWI after a Highway 59 traffic stop where a later breath test allegedly showed 0.26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57711,"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":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"","timeOption":"","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":""},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[15522,26160,26040,26161,13101,26162,872,2408,16009,786],"class_list":["post-57710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-0-26-bac","tag-brian-culkins","tag-brian-jeffrey-culkins","tag-highway-59-dwi","tag-minnesota-dwi-arrest","tag-otsego-minnesota","tag-pennington-county-dwi","tag-pennington-county-sheriff","tag-second-degree-dwi-minnesota","tag-trf-news","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57710","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=57710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57712,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57710\/revisions\/57712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}