Plymouth Man Charged wtih DWI May Face Deportation

A Plymouth man has been charged with driving drunk and then fleeing police before crashing his car into a boulder.

Jose Carlos Bautista, 27, is charged with fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle, a felony with a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $5,000 fine. He is also charged with third-degree DWI, a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, signed by Minneapolis Police Sgt. Scott Olson, a Minneapolis officer was on patrol near Lagoon and Hennepin avenues just after 9:30 p.m. Sept. 13 when he saw a car run a red light.

The officer activated his squad car’s emergency lights, and the car slowed down, then accelerated. The driver went several blocks before crashing into a boulder on Girard Avenue South.

The driver, later identified as Bautista, jumped out of the car and fled on foot; police caught him shortly afterward.

Police found a number of beer cans in Bautista’s car, and while they took him to jail, they smelled alcohol on his breath, according to the complaint. He had trouble standing up and maintaining his balance, and had to be propped up while he tried to perform field sobriety tests to keep him from falling over, the complaint says.

Bautista refused to take either a blood or a urine test.

Bautista’s criminal record includes three previous DWI convictions, once in 2007 and twice in 2009.

Bautista remains in the Hennepin County Jail on a $25,000 bond. He is also in custody on an immigration hold, meaning he faces possible deportation once his case is resolved. An omnibus hearing in the case is scheduled Oct. 16 in Hennepin County District Court.

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