Park Tavern tragedy is raising questions about Minnesota DWI laws

The man charged with driving drunk into Park Tavern's patio had at least five prior DWI convictions, according to multiple media reports.

Why it matters: The driving record of Steven F. Bailey, 46, is raising fresh questions about Minnesota's drunken driving laws, which allowed him to hold a valid driver's license.

• The Sunday crash killed two people and injured several others .

State of play: Minnesota had one of the highest rates of repeat DWI offenders in the nation, according to a 2017 MinnPost story .

• At the time, about 25,000 state residents had five or more convictions, and one person had 26.

Zoom in: Minnesota law does not have a provision that calls for permanent license revocation after a certain number of DWI offenses.

• But those who get three drunken-driving convictions in a 10-year period are required to use an ignition interlock — which requires drivers to blow into a tube to prove they haven’t been drinking — for three to six years, according to the state Department of Public Safety .
• If drivers do not comply, they'll never regain driving privileges.

Context: Bailey, according to KARE 11 and the Star Tribune , had been convicted of driving under the influence in Wisconsin in 1985 at age 17. Drunken-driving convictions in Minnesota followed in 1993, 1998, 2013 and 2015. The 2015 conviction came after a 2014 arrest.

• He had an ignition interlock installed after that arrest and had maintained a clean driving record until this weekend.

Yes, but: Criminal defense attorney Joe Tamburino told Axios that losing a driver's license doesn't prevent drunken driving, because some people will drive without a valid license. (Bailey, according to KARE 11, got his fifth DWI while his driver's license was revoked.)

• "What would actually at least help prevent these is robust traffic enforcement by law enforcement," said Tamburino

What they're saying: State Rep. Brad Tabke (DFL-Shakopee) posted on social media that if re-elected in November, he will introduce bills “strengthening policies, consequences, and keeping dangerous drivers off our roads,” though he didn't have specific proposals yet.

• "I don't think we treat [drunken driving] with a level of accountability that it needs right now," Tabke told Axios in an interview.

What we’re hearing: Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee Chair Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park) said although he’s skeptical that increasing penalties will deter the crime, he expects lawmakers will take a closer look at existing law and changes proposed by the state’s DWI task force and the public in the wake of the crash.

• “Certainly something like this is going to cause us to go back … and see where we might have a gap in the statute, where we might do better.”
• That could include expanding or lengthening mandated use of ignition interlock devices, which he argued have already made roads safer.

The bottom line: DWI laws can already lead to lengthy sentences and lifetime consequences for repeat offenders, Latz noted.

• “For someone who is an alcoholic, incapable of restraining their use of alcohol and getting behind the wheel, there’s only so much public policy could do, short of having an individual guardian be with a person every second of every day for their entire life,” he told Axios.

Torey Van Oot contributed to this report.