By Gary Dickson, Editor

ELK POINT, S.D. – A 57-year-old Minnesota man was arrested at about 3:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 20 on three charges: Open Container/Motor Vehicle; Driving Under Revocation; and DUI 2nd Offense Alcohol.

According to court documents, a traffic complaint about a vehicle driven by Nahim Antunez of Moorhead, Minn. was reported to South Dakota Highway Patrol Officer Megan Koch that a vehicle was “failing to maintain its lane and the driver [was] drinking an alcoholic beverage. Trooper Koch said she initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle matching the description near mile marker 39 on Interstate 29 a few miles south of Beresford in Union County.

Officer Koch noted that the driver, Nahim Antunez, had “the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from his breath. He had open alcoholic beverages in his vehicle.” She said she performed standardized field sobriety testing on Antunez and she said indicated signs of impairment. A preliminary breath test, or PBT, gave a reading of 0.089%. Court records stated that State Radio informed the trooper that the alleged offender had one prior DUI in the past ten years. She also discovered that his license was revoked in Minnesota.

At approximately 3:51 p.m. Officer Koch placed Antunez under arrest for the above three charges and transported him to the Union County Jail in Elk Point where he provided a blood sample.

State’s Attorney Kathy Zenner has conducted further research on Antunez and discovered that he actually has two prior DWI offenses: One was in Clay County, Minn. on 11/19/2024 and the other was on May 17, 2022, in Harris County, Texas. While the three previous charges are all misdemeanors, the addition of another DUI would increase the Driving Under the Influence to a class 6 felony.

Antunez had his initial court appearance Jan. 23, 2025 in Union County Circuit Court.

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