Man Faces First-Degree DWI Charges After Alleged .345 Preliminary Breath Test
Published: August 3rd, 2026.
INVER GROVE HEIGHTS: A man with a prior felony DWI conviction is facing two first-degree driving while impaired charges in Dakota County after prosecutors allege he registered a 0.345 preliminary breath alcohol concentration, refused a breath test at the jail, repeatedly made lewd comments about an officer's wife, and was driving despite having a driver's license canceled as inimical to public safety. According to the criminal complaint, Corbett also has multiple prior DWI-related convictions and other serious driving offenses.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Dakota County, Johnnie Noon Corbett, 34, has been charged with two counts of first-degree driving while impaired—one alleging refusal to submit to a breath test following a prior felony DWI conviction and one alleging driving while under the influence of alcohol following a prior felony DWI conviction. He is also charged with driving after cancellation—inimical to public safety, a gross misdemeanor.
According to the complaint, officers with the Inver Grove Heights Police Department were dispatched on July 31, 2026, to King of Diamonds, a strip club on River Road, after a caller reported that an obviously intoxicated man with slurred speech and difficulty walking was attempting to leave in a tan 2003 GMC Yukon.
Police say they located the SUV running with its lights on and made contact with Corbett in the driver's seat. Officers reported immediately detecting a strong odor of alcohol and observed bloodshot, watery eyes and slurred speech.
According to the complaint, Corbett told officers he had been asked to leave the strip club and was planning to drive to his ex-girlfriend's residence.
Police administered standardized field sobriety tests and reported multiple signs of impairment during each exercise. Corbett later provided a preliminary breath test, which allegedly registered 0.345, according to the complaint.
The complaint states Corbett was arrested and allegedly became belligerent with officers. Prosecutors allege he made a racially charged remark toward one officer and repeatedly made explicit and lewd comments about the arresting officer's wife during transport to jail.
According to the complaint, officers attempted multiple times to read Minnesota's Breath Test Advisory after arriving at the jail, but Corbett repeatedly interrupted them. When asked whether he wanted to speak with an attorney, prosecutors allege he responded by making another inappropriate remark about the officer's wife. When later asked whether he would submit to a breath test, the complaint states he again referenced the officer's wife and ultimately refused testing.
Investigators also determined Corbett's Minnesota driver's license was canceled as inimical to public safety, meaning his driving privileges had previously been revoked because authorities determined he posed a risk to public safety, according to the complaint.
The criminal complaint further outlines several prior offenses involving impaired driving and related traffic crimes, including prior DWI convictions, a chemical test refusal, a criminal vehicular homicide-related conviction involving leaving the scene of a crash, and a prior felony DWI conviction, which forms the basis for the current first-degree DWI charges.
The allegations contained in the criminal complaint are accusations. Corbett is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.