Sen. Omar Fateh said that Hennepin County Sheriff David Hutchinson should resign after he was convicted of driving while intoxicated.
“It’s time to break the silence on Sheriff Hutch’s DWI,” the DFL senator said. Since Hutchinson rolled his squad car off a highway while drunk and carrying his service weapon, Minnesota’s left wing has been notably silent — likely because the sheriff is a staunchly progressive figure who defeated a pro-Trump incumbent.
Fateh himself is no stranger to progressivism. He represents one of Minneapolis’s innermost districts and his Twitter profile sports a photoshopped picture of him sitting next to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. However, he still sees it as wrong that Hutchinson remains the sheriff when “many have lost their job or gone to jail for this exact offense.”
“I believe in second chances when it comes to chemical dependency, but the path to redemption requires accountability,” Fateh said. “Today, the right thing to do is resign.”
Fateh is joined by Rep. John Thompson, a lightning-rod figure who was expelled from the House DFL Caucus following a series of high-profile controversies.
“There is not one job on this earth where you can be driving a company vehicle and do as much damage as you done to that company vehicle and that job don’t fire you,” Thompson pointed out in a recent livestream.
Thompson also called it “convenient” that Hutchinson’s charge for carrying a pistol under the influence of alcohol was “continued for dismissal,” meaning it will be dropped if he has no probation violations.
According to court documents, Hutchinson’s 90-day jail sentence was stayed and he will instead do two years of probation. Under the terms of his probation, he is not allowed to consume alcohol or controlled substances and must submit to random testing.
Kyle Hooten
Kyle Hooten is Managing Editor of Alpha News. His coverage of Minneapolis has been featured on television shows like Tucker Carlson Tonight and in print media outlets like the Wall Street Journal.
