Bemidji resident charged with DWI after being found asleep in SUV

A Bemidji-area resident faces DWI charges after authorities found the person asleep in a parked SUV, a case that turns on Minnesota’s physical-control standard rather than whether anyone saw the vehicle moving. Under state law, a person can be charged for driving, operating or being in physical control of a motor vehicle while impaired.

That distinction matters in Beltrami County because Minnesota law does not require officers to catch someone on the road to make a DWI case. The statute also covers impairment by alcohol or controlled substances, and state law allows arrests for impairment even when a substance does not have a legal alcohol limit.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety says a first-offense DWI is generally a misdemeanor. Penalties can include driver’s license revocation, license plate impoundment and vehicle forfeiture, consequences that can follow a case that begins with someone trying to sleep it off in a parked vehicle.

The local case lands in a county where impaired driving remains a recurring public-safety issue. Minnesota Department of Health data show 24,324 DWI arrests in 2021, and state health officials say about 1 in 7 Minnesotans has at least one DWI. The Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office says its mission is to preserve public safety, peace and order, which is the backdrop for enforcement around Bemidji and across the county.

Beltrami County is also pushing ahead with a major jail project. The Beltrami County Board of Commissioners approved a second general obligation jail bond of $35.73 million for phase 2 of the new Beltrami County Jail, and completion of the new facility was previously expected in early to mid-2027. In that setting, impaired-driving cases continue to feed the local criminal docket and the county’s broader public-safety workload.