A Farmington man with three drunken driving convictions in eight years already under his belt was arrested in April by Lakeville Police after he allegedly fell asleep while waiting for food in a restaurant drive-thru.
The man, 26-year-old Michael Marshall Simmons, was charged with first-degree DWI and gross misdemeanor driving with a cancelled license, according to the Dakota County District Court.
In the complaint, police say they received a call from the restaurant manager who said that a man in the drive-thru lane fell asleep in his car while waiting on his food. A staff member woke the man up and told him to pull ahead to wait on his order to be completed.
When officers arrived at the restaurant, they found the man that they later identified to be Simmons sitting behind the wheel of the car. He was slumped over and was sleeping. When they ran his information, they found that he was driving with a cancelled Minnesota license. Simmons did not respond to the officers when they tried to wake him, so his passenger reached over to wake him up.
The report says that Simmons told the police that he was not the one driving the car. Instead, he said he was sitting in the driver’s seat so he could learn the feel of the new car. He allegedly nodded off a number of times during this conversation with police.
Police reported that Simmons had slurred speech and bloodshot and watery eyes, but they did not smell the odor of alcohol on him. What they did observe were track marks on his arm.
Police did have Simmons perform field sobriety tests, which he did not pass, and they allege that they found a syringe within the vehicle that was filled with a clear substance.
Simmons did agree to have his blood drawn.
In the complaint, it is said that Simmons was convicted of DWI in 2005, 2008, and 2010. He was also charged with fleeing in 2011, which is a felony. Those convictions allow authorities to charge Simmons with a felony this time around.
If he is convicted of the first degree DWI charge, he could face between $4,200 and $14,000 in fines and three to 7 years in prison.
The gross misdemeanor charge of driving with a canceled license carries a fine between $1,000 and $3,000 and up to one year in jail.
