Matthew Cleve sentenced for attack on State Trooper

On December 21, Matthew Cleve was sentenced for attacking a Minnesota State Trooper in early January, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Tuesday.

Cleve, 39, of Zimmerman, pleaded guilty on November 1 to felony fourth-degree aggravated assault of a peace officer and attempting to disarming a peace officer, and a misdemeanor DWI.

As part of his sentence, Cleve was placed on probation for three years and has a stayed sentence of 366 days. He will also need to abstain from any drug or alcohol use, be randomly drug tested, and must attend a DWI victim impact panel.

He received 38 days of credit for time served.

According the criminal complaint, around 8:30 p.m. on January 3, Cleve was under the influence at the time he crashed his car into a retaining wall on Highway 252 by 70th Street in Brooklyn Center. A witness to the crash alerted the State Trooper who saw Cleve walking away from the crashed car.

The State Trooper asked Cleve to stop, but he ignored the request. When the State Trooper tried to stop him once again, Cleve punched him in the face and pulled him to the ground. Cleve then tried to take the gun from the State Trooper while on top of him, the complaint states.

The witness came over to help and pulled Cleve off the State Trooper. Eventually, Cleve was restrained and handcuffed. The State Trooper sustained several cuts and scrapes to his face and leg.

At the time of the incident, Cleve’s driver’s license was cancelled. He also had three previous DWIs.

View Matthew Cleve's criminal complaint (PDF).