Kamala Harris VP pick Tim Walz was arrested for DUI and gave a surprising explanation to cops: How driving drunk at 96 in a 55mph zone changed his life

Tim Walz was arrested and booked for Driving Under the Influence in Nebraska in 1995.

The progressive Minnesota Governor, chosen on Tuesday as Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, no longer drinks alcohol or coffee.

While he was initially charged with driving under the influence and speeding, Walz struck a plea deal where the charges were reduced to a single count of reckless driving.

The incident reemerged during his first run for congressional office in 2006, sparking a campaign manager to dismiss the charge and claim that Walz was not 'not drunk.' They 'attributed the misunderstanding to Walz's deafness.'

An image reportedly of Walz's mugshot is making its rounds on conservative social media in an attempt to smear the new Democratic VP pick.

The governor is a huge fan of Diet Mountain Dew, but he doesn't drink coffee and quit consuming alcohol some time after the Nebraska arrest.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was arrested and booked for a DUI charge in 1995 in Nebraska

Walz was a newlywed teacher in Nebraska nearly three decades ago when he was pulled over and arrested for driving 96 miles-per-hour in a 55-mph zone. He was serving in the Army National Guard at the time.

He failed both a field sobriety and breath test administered by the officer, according to the September 25, 1995 police report.

'A strong odor of alcoholic beverage was detected emitting from Mr. Walz['s] breath and person,' reads the Nebraska state trooper's report.

Walz was brought to Chadron Hospital for a blood test and was booked at Dawes County Jail.

According to a court transcript, Walz had a blood alcohol concentration of .128.

But the governor's team insisted he incurred hearing issues from his time in the National Guard that caused a miscommunication and that the deafness caused 'balance issues' that could be why he failed the sobriety test.

A Rochester Post Bulletin article is one of the only reports on Walz's DUI and says that in the years since the arrest his hearing issues have been 'surgically corrected.'

At the time of the arrest, Walz was teaching and living in Nebraska with his new wife Gwen, to whom he is still married and shares two children. He was also serving in the Army National Guard

A police report of the incident says Walz failed a field sobriety and preliminary breath test before he was brought to Chadron Hospital for a blood test on September 23, 1995

'He couldn't understand what the officer was saying to him,' Walz's campaign manager said in the 2006 article.

But the state trooper's report and the court transcript do not reference any hearing issues.

It appears that due to the officer's failure to recognize Walz's deafness, the blood test results were suppressed during the proceedings and were unable to be used as evidence against him if the case had gone to trial.

But the results were still referenced in a March 13, 1996 plea agreement hearing.