Proctor Deputy Police Chief Troy Foucault was supposed to be off work Thursday. He dropped his kids off at school but then decided to check in at work just to see how things were going.
"I didn't get out of there until 4 [p.m.]," he said. "The phones were ringing off the hook -- British reporters, L.A. reporters.''
Thursday's News Tribune story about a Proctor man convicted of driving drunk in a La-Z-Boy lounge chair powered by a lawnmower engine traveled around the world.
Foucault said he fielded at least 30 phone calls, including from reporters affiliated with Britain's The Times newspaper, msn.com, yahoo.com, Splash News & Picture Agency, The Smoking Gun, and Court TV, among others.
Foucault said the media wanted to know exactly how the chair, which can travel 15 to 20 mph, could be driven. Some callers expressed an interest in buying it. The chair was forfeited to Proctor police, who plan to auction it with other forfeited items. Foucault said a date for that auction hasn't been set but will be advertised in advance.
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Duluth defense attorney David Keegan, who represented Dennis Anderson, the Proctor man convicted of driving the La-Z-Boy drunk, said he also was inundated with media calls Thursday.
Foucault said he's seen nothing like it during his nine years in the Proctor Police Department.
"Our secretary wasn't too happy,'' he joked. "She said, 'What have you created?' I said, 'I talked to the News Tribune, and all of a sudden it's a whirlwind.' ''
