DWI Charges: Roundabout crash suspect nearly 5 times the legal limit

Police say a motorist who crashed through a Mankato roundabout Sunday night was nearly five times the legal alcohol limit to drive.

Daniel Parsons, 41, was charged Monday with gross misdemeanor DWI in Blue Earth County Court.

The crash happened at about 8:45 p.m. at the Madison Ave/Haefner Dr roundabout.

The criminal complaint says multiple callers reported to police a pickup truck had driven straight through the roundabout, crossed into oncoming traffic, and struck a light pole before entering the ditch.

Police say the driver, identified as Parsons, appeared incapable of understanding basic questions.  When an officer asked for Parsons’s date of birth, he responded by spelling out his last name, according to the complaint.

Court records say Parsons was too intoxicated to perform field sobriety testing.  Parsons was “swaying and staggering and required support to stand,” says the complaint.

A portable breath test put Parsons’s blood-alcohol content at .40, nearly five times the legal limit.

The complaint says Parsons was transported to a hospital after he began continuously vomiting inside the squad car and at the jail.

Parsons has no previous DWI convictions within the last ten years, according to police.

A dog was also in the vehicle.  Police say the animal was taken to the Blue Earth Nicollet County Humane Society (BENCHS).