Minnesota woman pulled over for drinking coffee while driving

rockin'robin

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ST. PAUL (KMSP) - Lindsey Krieger says what happened to her is nothing less than police overreach and a complete waste of taxpayer dollars. On Monday morning, she was pulled over after a St. Paul police officer saw her take a sip of coffee while traveling on I-94.

“I was completely dumbfounded,” Krieger said. “I thought it was a joke!”

Krieger says she barely got a chance to merge onto I-94 from University Avenue in St. Paul when the officer tailed her and threw on the squad’s lights

“I didn’t even have enough time to merge up to the right speed limit yet, so I wasn’t speeding or anything like that,” Krieger said of the incident.

“She was like, ‘Do you know what you were doing wrong? Do you know why you were pulled over?’ I said, ‘no I have no idea what you’re talking about.‘ And finally after asking me a few more times she says, ‘Drinking coffee. It’s against the law to drink coffee while you’re driving.'”

Sgt. Mike Ernster with St. Paul Police Department couldn’t comment on the case specifically, but said the cop has the law on her side.

“Inattentive driving relates to anything that takes your attention away from those obligations of every driver, which is to pay attention,” Ernster said.

Jon Cummings with Minnesotans for Safe Driving raised a brow when he heard Krieger’s story, thinking this incident has the cops focusing on the wrong people.

“Every car you drive in has cup holders in it,” Cummings said. “You don’t have to go three blocks before you see somebody doing something really dangerous. Those are the people we should be focusing on.”

Krieger was cited, but not for sipping coffee.

“She came back and said, ‘I’m going to give you a warning for the coffee but I’m going to give you a no seat belt ticket’ which I happened to take off when I was pulled over.”

Krieger plans on contesting the ticket in court, and says she will continue to drink coffee behind the wheel.

EDITOR'S NOTE: After the airing of this story, the Minnesota State Patrol confirmed Krieger was pulled over because she was driving without a seat belt

http://www.fox13news.com/news/36838447-story
 
Says she was pulled over for not wearing a seat belt. Besides, if she was sipping her coffee while merging onto the interstate that does sound a little dangerous.
 
Says she was pulled over for not wearing a seat belt. Besides, if she was sipping her coffee while merging onto the interstate that does sound a little dangerous.

I have a bottle of water in my car and I wait for red light to take a drink of it. Yeah you really needs to careful while merging and I read in AAA the police will give you ticket if go over the speed limit while driving on an exit . She picked the wrong place to drink her coffee , that was an expense cup of coffee.
 
So it was nothing to do with the coffee. I drink coffee on my way every day and pass police cruisers, never once have I been pulled over over it (or for anything else.)
 
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Minnesota has a distracted driving law on the books, so the women probably wouldn't of stood a chance in court if she had been sited for the coffee, as to the seat belt infraction, she doesn't stand a chance, because it's her word against the cops and the court is going to side with the officer. Also, only the cop knows how she was driving while drinking her coffee, if she was distracted every time she took her sip, she was guilty.
 
This is a 1st for me....seems (to me) the Cop was having a bad day...and at first, asked her if she knew why he pulled her over.....he told her it was because she was drinking coffee...

She stated that when she pulled over for the Cop, she unbuckled her seat belt. At that time the cop did not say anything about the seatbelt...just the coffee....So...when she makes a stink of it all and wants to go to Court...it seems the Cop changes his story and said she wasn't wearing a seat belt!

I do believe her...
 
I don't understand why she took off her seatbelt when she got pulled over . That made it look like she not wearing it while driving . I don't the woman was using good judgment , trying to drink hot coffee while merging with traffic then take off her seatbelt when a police is walking over to her car. :roll: I would had made sure my seatbelt was on .
 
This is a 1st for me....seems (to me) the Cop was having a bad day...and at first, asked her if she knew why he pulled her over.....he told her it was because she was drinking coffee...

She stated that when she pulled over for the Cop, she unbuckled her seat belt. At that time the cop did not say anything about the seatbelt...just the coffee....So...when she makes a stink of it all and wants to go to Court...it seems the Cop changes his story and said she wasn't wearing a seat belt!

I do believe her...

Depending on what type of duty the cop was doing, they were just trying to make their average(quota). I've been pulled over four times in my lifetime and every cop has asked me if I knew why he pulled me over; never give him an answer if you know what's good for you.

With the laws on the books in Minnesota, the woman doesn't stand a chance. First of all she was drinking coffee when she was pulled over and could of been distracted every time she took a sip and second, she didn't have her seatbelt on. She looses! The cop never changed his story, just decided to nail her on the seatbelt law instead of the distracted driving. Perhaps he was doing her a favor: the fine for the distracted driving in Minn. might be higher than driving without your seatbelt on.
 
It do seem cop was having bad day perdantic man
 
Coffee drinker

The police can pull you over for anything they want. It all depends on how their day is going. My doctor shared her experience of being pulled over because she made a lane change. She signaled and then changed lanes when it was clear and the cop pulled her over. Apparently she wasn't supposed to change lanes in the rain. It's dangerous!
 
The police can pull you over for anything they want. It all depends on how their day is going. My doctor shared her experience of being pulled over because she made a lane change. She signaled and then changed lanes when it was clear and the cop pulled her over. Apparently she wasn't supposed to change lanes in the rain. It's dangerous!

That is insane ! What if you have to change lanes to get off at an exit , you can't just keep on driving to no where .

If a police has to get out their nice warm dry car in a storm b/c a driver broke a traffic rule the driver will more than likely to get a ticket.
 
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