MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. (AP) — An aide who was fired over his affair with the Minnesota Senate's majority leader crashed on a highway near St. Paul and was critically injured, authorities said Thursday.,
Michael Brodkorb's car struck the wall of a bridge along Interstate 35E in Mendota Heights about 9 p.m. Wednesday and stopped against a concrete median barrier, the State Patrol said in its accident report.
Patrol spokesman Lt. Eric Roeske said a trooper who responded to the crash smelled alcohol on Brodkorb's breath, but the results of a urine test to determine his blood alcohol content weren't expected for at least two weeks.
Brodkorb, 39, of Eagan, was not wearing a seat belt, according to the accident report. He was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul in critical condition, according to an accident report. Hospital spokeswoman Kristen Kaufmann confirmed Brodkorb was being treated Thursday, but said the family had asked that no information be released.
Roeske told the Star Tribune early Thursday that Brodkorb's injuries "were severe but non-life-threatening as of last night." On Thursday afternoon, Roeske said in an email to The Associated Press that the State Patrol has received no updated information and does not expect anything further.
Brodkorb was a communications aide to Senate Republicans. He was fired in 2011 after an affair with then-Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch. He is suing the state, with claims including gender discrimination, arguing female staffers involved in affairs in the past were not similarly fired.
Senate lawyers contend Brodkorb was an at-will employee who could be let go at any time.
Once seen as a rising GOP star, Koch quietly served out the final year of her term and did not seek re-election in November.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
Comments (14)
Add commentI wanted to
Type in something alot worse than that Purposed but It would have been yanked.
Purposed
Ditto
Hmm, somethings wrong here.
Let's see. You get pulled over on the highway by a cop and he gives you a breathalyzer test and determines your blood alcohol content on the spot but medical results of a urine test to determine blood alcohol will take "at least two weeks ". Hmmm, there's a problem here. Smell something fishy.
What next?
It says the cop smelled alcohol breath and gave the test with results in two weeks. It doesn't say that the cop determined
the blood alcohol on the spot. Something is wrong with this man--get him to treatment pronto.
Can you get the results of the test faster?
I don't know
Hate to sound cold-ha -I bet he was cold but didn't know it.
Read the story.
He did not get pulled over. He received no breathalyzer on the scene.
He went off the road and hit a concrete median barrier and is in critical condition.
The urine test results are the least of his concern now.
But, hey, so is the fact that he is a Republican who brought down the Senate Majority Leader and sued the state and cost taxpayers a potful of money.
He is lucky he didn't harm anyone but himself.
No seat belt? They should give him a ticket for that.
But I do hope he recovers.
You got that right except
You got that right except for his wife and kids, if there are any. Hitting a bridge wall would be worse than getting pulled over, at least, to me.
This guy needs help and might just be asking for it.
Sadie-Correction
Sadie, It does not say that the cop took a breathalyzer on the spot or gave the urine test and neither did I. The article said that the cop smelled alcohol. I stated that a cop, any cop, anywhere, can stop someone on the highway and give a breathalyzer test and achieve a reading high enough for an arrest on the spot with a simple breathalyzer machine, so why is it going to take some medical professionals 2 weeks to analyze a urine test.
It does not say the cop gave the test with results in two weeks. The man was in critical condition. I doubt very seriously that the cop gave a urine test on the spot. I assume the urine test was taken at the hospital. I was merely stating that if a cop can get such quick results from a breathalyzer, why does it take 2+ weeks for medical professionals to get results. I hope this clears things up for you.
I believe
that blood samples may be taken at the hospital but are analyzed at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in the Cities (one consistent testing agency.) With the many blood samples that they receive from all over the state (testing for the presence of drugs and/or alcohol) it very easily could be a couple of weeks before there are any results coming back. I don't think that there's any evil conspiracy working here. Any breathalizer done at the scene is preliminary to the follow-up blood sample taken to confirm the officer's probable cause for making the stop in the first place.
Guess what?
I gave charlie 3 thumbs up!! Someone please test me to see if I'm under the influence. LOLOL.
Somebody
Please call 911 for Nan!!! Fun & Laughter is still thee best meds in life!!! Thank-You.
Not under the influence
But Charlie's not seeing things straight. This was a very bad accident. As a cop responding you aren't going to be thinking about taking a breathalyzer sample from a guy who's severely injured and needs an ambulance now. We don't even know if he was conscious--I assume not given the severity of the accident.
Noting a smell of alcohol on an unconscious person and then having blood or urine taken at the hospital--to be analyzed later--seems like the norm in a BAD accident.
There's a lot of intrigue here so I would hope that authorities are taking care to really get this right. This guy was a partisan hack supreme, a hatchet man for the party who didn't care who he ran over or whether he dealt with truth or fabrication. He has so many enemies and is so hated by so many. His testimony about other affairs amongst high level politicians is believed to endanger the careers of more than just Amy Koch.
Not out of the question that this wasn't an accident. And there may be people who would benefit by hiding his true alcohol content if it was.
Nan Lee
I'm flabergasted. Thank you. Once in a while I do say things that do make others happy. I'll work on it some more. Please don't hit the bottle just because of me. "WHO LOVES YA KID" (52). PS: 64 Wednesday.
We all know what Brodkorb has done with his life
We all know what Brodkorb has done with his life for the last few years. I doubt he was targeted for an "accident:, but it isn't hard to imagine that he's having a real hard row to hoe right now, and may have escaped into a glass; I imagine his marriage is a shambles, and he is going to have figure out how to explain himself to his kids someday. While I think he could find work based on his "talents", it will be only for distasteful groups or he will have to be an "unknown consultant"...EASILY shuttled out of view at the first sniff of impropiety.
Let that be a lesson, I guess.