Here's the story from the Duluth News Tribune. Driving something like this around was pretty stupid. The idiot was just begging for
ANOTHER DUI!!!
This is the motorized La-Z-Boy chair that Dennis Anderson of Proctor was operating when he hit a parked vehicle in 2008. Anderson pleaded guilty to a DWI charge on Monday. (Submitted photo)
view all offers |
sign up for email offers |
add your business
Previous Next
RELATED CONTENT // //
- FOX 21 NEWS: Lawn mower driver
A Proctor man driving a motorized La-Z-Boy lounge chair hit a parked vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
Dennis LeRoy Anderson, 62, pleaded guilty Monday in St. Louis County District Court to DWI in connection with the Aug. 31, 2008, incident in Proctor. There were no injuries.
According to the criminal complaint, Anderson drove his motorized chair into a vehicle parked near a Proctor bar. Anderson told police he was traveling from the Keyboard Lounge after consuming approximately eight or nine beers. His blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.29 percent, more than three times the legal limit to drive.
Anderson claimed he was driving the chair fine until a woman jumped on it and knocked the chair off course. He has one prior DWI conviction. He couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.
Proctor Deputy Police Chief Troy Foucault said the chair was powered by a converted lawnmower with a Briggs & Stratton engine. It has a stereo, cup holders and other custom options, including different power levels.
A National Hot Rod Racing Association sticker is posted on the chair’s head rest. The chair had a small steering wheel, about a third of the size of a golf cart’s, coming straight up from the middle of the La-Z-Boy.
Proctor City Prosecutor Ronald Envall said he charged Anderson under the portion of Minnesota law that makes it a crime to operate a self-propelled motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol or drugs. He declined further comment.
Anderson had to forfeit his motorized chair to Proctor police, who plan to auction it with other forfeited items, Foucault said.
Duluth defense attorney David Keegan, who represented Anderson, declined comment.
Sixth Judicial District Judge Heather Sweetland sentenced Anderson to 180 days in the St. Louis County Jail or at the Northeast Regional Corrections Center and fined him $2,000 plus court fees. She stayed the jail time and one-half of the fine for two years of supervised probation. As conditions of his probation, Anderson must submit to a chemical dependency assessment, follow all recommendations, abstain from alcohol and unprescribed drugs, be subject to random testing and undergo 30 days of electronic monitoring.
Tags: news,
crime,
courts,
proctor,
auto
La-Z-Boy story puts Proctor on the world media’s map
Proctor Deputy Police Chief Troy Foucault was supposed to be off work Thursday. He dropped his kids off at school but then decided to check in at work just to see how things were going. By:
Mark Stodghill, Duluth News Tribune
//
This is the motorized La-Z-Boy chair that Dennis Anderson of Proctor was operating when he hit a parked vehicle in 2008. Anderson pleaded guilty to a DWI charge on Monday. (Submitted photo)
//
RELATED CONTENT //
Proctor Deputy Police Chief Troy Foucault was supposed to be off work Thursday. He dropped his kids off at school but then decided to check in at work just to see how things were going.
“I didn’t get out of there until 4 [p.m.],” he said. “The phones were ringing off the hook — British reporters, L.A. reporters.’’
Thursday’s News Tribune story about a Proctor man convicted of driving drunk in a La-Z-Boy lounge chair powered by a lawnmower engine traveled around the world.
Foucault said he fielded at least 30 phone calls, including from reporters affiliated with Britain’s The Times newspaper, msn.com, yahoo.com, Splash News & Picture Agency, The Smoking Gun, and Court TV, among others.
Foucault said the media wanted to know exactly how the chair, which can travel 15 to 20 mph, could be driven. Some callers expressed an interest in buying it. The chair was forfeited to Proctor police, who plan to auction it with other forfeited items. Foucault said a date for that auction hasn’t been set but will be advertised in advance.
Duluth defense attorney David Keegan, who represented Dennis Anderson, the Proctor man convicted of driving the La-Z-Boy drunk, said he also was inundated with media calls Thursday.
Foucault said he’s seen nothing like it during his nine years in the Proctor Police Department.
“Our secretary wasn’t too happy,’’ he joked. “She said, ‘What have you created?’ I said, ‘I talked to the News Tribune, and all of a sudden it’s a whirlwind.’ ’’
Tags: news,
proctor,
crime,
courts
Only in Minnesota can you get a DWI in a recliner.
