Last week, Officer Chad Streiff received a personalized hockey stick from Bill Hammes, law enforcement liaison for the Minnesota Office of Traffic Safety, for a Hat Trick during his shift on June 10–11.

A Hat Trick occurs when an officer makes three DWI arrests in one shift.

Officer Streiff’s first arrest of the shift occurred when he observed a car speeding at 112 mph on I-494. Once the car pulled over, Officer Streiff noticed two open containers of alcohol and the smell of alcohol on the driver who later had a preliminary breath test (PBT) reading of .13 blood alcohol content (.08 is the legal limit). He was arrested for fourth-degree DWI, open container and reckless driving.

The second arrest came a few hours later when Officer Streiff observed a vehicle continually swerving. After pulling the car over, Officer Streiff noticed the smell of alcohol coming from the driver and a PBT reading showed a blood alcohol content of .13. He was arrested for fourth-degree DWI and careless driving.

A couple of hours later, officers were dispatched to an apparent vehicle crash involving a truck and a motorcycle where both parties fled after the crash. Officer Streiff located the truck and found a man nearby who was bleeding profusely from his head, had road rash on his body and smelled of alcohol. After investigation, Officer Streiff determined the man had crashed his motorcycle and the two drivers knew each other. The truck driver was following the motorcycle home when the motorcycle crashed on its own. A PBT test showed the motorcycle driver had a blood alcohol content of .18. He was arrested for third-degree DWI and transported to the hospital.

Since August 2018, Officer Streiff has made 26 Hat Tricks, two Grand Slams and one Ace (five arrests in one shift). Officer Streiff serves as a full-time DWI officer thanks to a grant from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

Because our officers can’t be everywhere, we rely on other drivers to be an extra set of eyes for us. If you observe a possible drunk driver, please pull over or have a passenger call 911 and provide Dispatch with as much information as possible including location, license plate number and the observed dangerous driving behavior.