Local Lawyer Reacts To Lawmakers Alleged Interference With A Traffic Stop

(KNSI) – A St. Cloud area legal expert says the officers’ conduct during a traffic stop of a lawmaker’s daughter wasn’t out of the ordinary. Representative John Thompson recently had his 26-year-old child get pulled over for allegedly swerving and driving with expired tabs in St. Paul. She reportedly refused to get out of the car after an officer thought he could smell marijuana and was suspicious she was driving under the influence. St. Cloud area Attorney Mike Bryant says you’re not required to take a test at the scene.

“You don’t have to take tests at the scene. A lot of times you want to take those because if you pass, they’ll let you go and you don’t have any problems. But the walking the line and the saying the alphabet backward, even the breath tests, you don’t have to do at the scene. Now the odds go way up, that they’ll then say okay, we’re going to arrest you.”

She then called her father, Rep. Thompson, who allegedly yelled at officers and accused them of stopping his daughter for no reason. She was then allowed to leave with Thompson. Bryant says allowing a person who’s driving impaired to get a ride home isn’t unusual.

“I’ve picked people up before. When it’s all said and done, if they think that there’s a question about her driving, they can give them to somebody that they think is not impaired and let them go. It’s not unheard of.”

He says the bigger issue is Thompson’s role after the traffic stop. Thompson says his daughter was having a mental health crisis caused by the police presence. The SPPD has accused Thompson of trying to bully and intimidate officers at the scene. The police chief has asked Thompson and his daughter to agree to release the officers’ body camera footage to show everyone what happened.

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