Policeman reaches through window to stop truck with sleeping driver

Police say a 26-year-old St. Louis Park man was asleep at the wheel of his pickup as it drove down the street before dawn on Sunday. He didn't wake when the truck crossed the centerline, or when an officer ran up and jumped on the running board, reached inside and put the truck in neutral.

The criminal complaint said Pedro Fernando Brito, 26, was undisturbed when the officer stopped the truck and pulled out the keys.

Then the officer got his attention. "Police had to shake the defendant's shoulder and yell at him to wake him up," the complaint said.

"This is a weird one. Strange", Richfield police Lt. Todd Sandel said. "He was out to the world, behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. We were lucky it was 3:30 a.m."

Brito denied having anything to drink, but the officer says Brito's eyes were watery and bloodshot and his balance was poor.

Brito was charged with driving while intoxicated, refusing to submit to a test for alcohol and driving while his license was revoked. The charges are all misdemeanors.