Man Charged with Felony Drunken Driving in Eagan

A Canton, Minn., man with three DWI convictions in the past 10 years has been charged with felony drunken driving in Eagan.

Scott Francis Caldwell, 52, is charged with two counts of felony first-degree driving while impaired, each of which carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a $14,000 fine. Each charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison.

Caldwell is also charged with providing false information to police and driving with a canceled driver’s license, both gross misdemeanors with maximum penalties of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine.

Caldwell, who was arrested June 23, remains in the Dakota County Jail on a $100,000 bond. He is also being sought in Hennepin County for violating the terms of his probation on his most recent DWI conviction in March.

According to the criminal complaint, Eagan police were called to a gas station on Diffley Road just after 2:30 a.m. June 23 when an employee reported a suspicious patron. 

The employee told officers that the man–later identified as Caldwell–was stumbling around a parked car. When police arrived, they found Caldwell with his head in the car window, grunting as he tried to find something on the car’s floor, the complaint says.

An officer asked Caldwell what he was doing, and he said he was looking for his keys, according to the complaint.

The officer smelled alcohol on Caldwell’s breath, and noted that his eyes were bloodshot and glassy and that he was having trouble standing in one spot, the complaint says. When he tried to walk, he stumbled and almost fell over, but he told the officer that he was sober and that he’d had nothing to drink, according to the complaint.

The officer asked for Caldwell’s name, and he gave his cousin’s name, the complaint charges. The officer searched Caldwell’s car and found a number of items, including a checkbook, that listed Caldwell’s real name.

Caldwell submitted to a preliminary breath test, which showed a blood-alcohol content over the legal limit of .08 percent, according to the complaint. He also submitted to a blood test.

Caldwell’s criminal record includes three DWI convictions in Hennepin County, one in May 2010 and two in March 2012.

An omnibus hearing in Caldwell’s case is scheduled July 10 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.