Off-duty and over the limit: Test shows Cloquet cop in fatal crash was drunk
The State Patrol says test results show an off-duty Cloquet police officer was driving drunk when he crashed into a car driven by a nurse on her way to work, killing both of them earlier this month, WDIO reports.
According to the Patrol, a medical examiner measured Mark Laine's blood alcohol content at 0.178, the station says. That's more than twice the legal limit to drive in Minnesota.
State Patrol investigators say the March 5 accident on Minnesota Highway 33 was caused when Laine's pickup truck veered over the center line and crashed head-on into the car driven by Fay Dahlman, 54.
The Duluth News Tribune reports Laine, 49, was a corporal in the Cloquet Police Department and a 27-year veteran of the force. He'd been convicted of drunk driving in 2003, the News Tribune says.
WDIO reports Dahlman had been a nurse at Community Memorial Hospital for 12 years.
According to her obituary, "Fay lived to take care of others and enjoyed spoiling her kids and grandkids endlessly."
