Minnesota Woman Gets Pulled Over For Drinking... Coffee

While driving on Interstate-94, a Minnesota woman was suddenly pulled over by a cop — for taking a sip of her coffee. Lindsey Krieger, who was on her way to work at the time, told Fox that she was "completely dumbfounded" at the maneuver, and thought at first that the cop was only playing a joke.

"I didn't even have enough time to merge up to the right speed limit yet, so I wasn't speeding or anything like that," Krieger told Fox.

When the police officer asked Krieger if she knew why she was pulled over, Krieger told her, "I have no idea." After a few more attempts to get Krieger to admit her wrongdoing, the officer finally told her, "Drinking coffee — it's against the law to drink coffee while you're driving."

When contacted, Sergeant Mike Ernster of the St. Paul Police Department would not comment on the case, but confirmed to Fox that the officer was within her right to flag down distracted drivers. 

"Inattentive driving relates to anything that takes your attention away from those obligations of every driver, which is to pay attention," Ernster said. There is not, however, a Minnesota law that specifically prohibts drinking coffee while driving.

Krieger was then given a warning for her coffee drinking, but a ticket for not wearing her seatbelt, "which I happened to take off when I was pulled over," the unfairly caffeine-deprived driver told Fox.

Update: Following the publication of this story, the Minnesota State Patrol told Fox that Krieger was originally pulled over for not wearing her seatbelt.