July 4 Weekend On Lake Minnetonka: BUIs Increased In 2020

Minneapolis MN

07 July, 2020

11:20 AM

Description

LAKE MINNETONKA, MN — The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office made arrests after drunk boating, assaults, and other criminal behavior on Lake Minnetonka over July 4 weekend. Boating Under the Influence (BUIs) incidents were up from three in 2019 to six in 2020. Authorities says each boat should have a designated "boat captain" who isn't drinking. Police added more Water Patrol deputies to Lake Minnetonka, and the vast majority of stops they made last weekend were educational. They issued nearly three times as many verbal warnings as citations, according to authorities. Overall, police say it was "much calmer" than last year, when there were five assaults and one large fight on a boat. Traffic to Big Island was down by about one third.. Here's a breakdown of the stats from July 3rd - July 5 on Lake Minnetonka: 211 stops/contacts/calls (down from 221 in 2019) 51 citations (same as 2019) 6 BUIS (up from 3 in 2019) 198 Verbal Warnings 3 Written warnings7 medicals (all to hospital)