2:31Sam Salter, the Hudson, Wis., man who spent two days in jail after a state trooper rammed his van on New Year's Eve, has agreed to a $9,500 settlement to compensate him for what the State Patrol acknowledges was a mishandled traffic stop.
"I want the matter to be over," Salter said. "I don't want to spend the time litigating. I'm not interested in making money off this event."
The State Patrol on Wednesday announced that it had reprimanded trooper Carrie Rindal after a review board found that she had made several errors while stopping and arresting Salter along Interstate 94 in St. Paul.
Salter, who proposed the $9,500 settlement to attorneys for the State Patrol, said his expenses included $2,200 in body work, $130 for a ticket he got for an improper lane-change, and $140 for an impound fee from the lot to which they towed his Toyota Sienna.
A part-time college instructor, Salter said he also factored in what he would have been paid for the 37 hours he spent in jail, as well as the time his wife, a nurse, spent trying to get him released. Salter said he added several thousand dollars for aggravation and the amount he expects to pay Minneapolis attorney Robert Bennett.
The incident happened as Salter, 40, drove toward home shortly before midnight with his three young children in the back seat. Rindal wrote in her report that his van was going 70 mph in a 55 zone, weaving in its lane and changing lanes without signaling. She activated her lights and siren. Salter shifted to the right lane, but he later said he had insufficient space to pull over safely because of a snowbank.
Rindal followed him for one minute and 23 seconds as he exited on Hwy. 61 and slowly turned right onto Burns Av. He said he was slowing to stop when she hit his van with a P.I.T. (pursuit intervention technique) maneuver that is used to stop fleeing vehicles. She then arrested him for fleeing.
The review board watched a video of the incident captured by a camera in the squad car.
