Dave Hutchinson, the disgraced former sheriff of Hennepin County, has been fired from his old job as a sergeant with Metro Transit police because of his 2021 drunken driving crash and for creating a poor work environment while he was sheriff.
Hutchinson was reinstated to his job with Metro Transit police after his term as sheriff ended in January, when he was then put on leave pending an internal affairs investigation. The reinstatement fell under a state law that allows public employees to return to their former job after taking a leave of absence for an elected office.
The internal investigation found that Hutchinson violated police department’s policies by being arrested for driving drunk after totaling his sheriff-issued SUV in Alexandria, Minn., on Dec. 8, 2021, and for violating the county’s non-discrimination and respectful workplace policy following racist, sexist and bullying behavior.
Metro Transit Police Chief Ernest Morales III wrote in a March 15 letter to Hutchinson that the investigation found his “behavior demonstrated poor judgment and reflected poorly on all of us in the department.”
Hutchinson was given the opportunity to challenge the firing at a March 17 hearing, which he did not attend. On Wednesday, he notified the Metropolitan Council in a letter that he was waiving that right.
A Bloomington resident, Hutchinson, 42, was elected sheriff in 2018 after narrowly defeating three-term incumbent Rich Stanek. He began his career as a police officer in Bayport, where he worked for two years before joining Metro Transit police in 2006.
Crash near Alexandria
Hutchinson was driving back from a Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association conference at the Arrowwood Resort when at around 2:30 a.m. he rolled the county-owned 2021 Ford Explorer about five miles east of Alexandria on Interstate 94.
The crash analysis report showed Hutchinson reached speeds of 126 mph, and that the driver’s-side seatbelt was not engaged. Inside the vehicle were three firearms and an unopened bottle of whiskey.
Hutchinson was hospitalized with three broken ribs, as well as injuries to his head and hip. At first, he told responding officers that he had not been driving.
According to a urine analysis taken about three hours after the crash, Hutchinson had a blood-alcohol content of 0.134. The legal limit to drive in Minnesota is 0.08.
A State Patrol report said Hutchinson had slurred speech, poor balance, smelled of alcohol and was the lone occupant of the vehicle.
The day after the crash, Hutchinson released a statement admitting to being the driver saying, “I made the inexcusable decision to drive after drinking alcohol and I am deeply sorry.”
Pleaded guilty
Twelve days after the crash, Hutchinson pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor DWI charge and was sentenced to two years of probation. Tw other DWI-related counts and a charge of carrying a pistol while under the influence of alcohol were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
Hutchinson then rejected calls for his resignation by Gov. Tim Walz and some Hennepin County commissioners. He said he planned to serve out the rest of his term and refused “to be pushed out of my role as Sheriff by political figures with alternative motives.”
Less than a month before his term as sheriff ended, the Hennepin County Board voted unanimously to censure Hutchinson for the workplace violations, which were detailed in a report following a human resources investigation.