FARGO (KFGO) - A United Airlines flight attendant says there was little question in his mind that Cass County Administrator Keith Berndt was drunk when he was ordered off a flight from Chicago to Fargo in August.
Keith Lane was interviewed by Cass County Deputy Dewey Nitschke after the county commission asked for an investigation. Lane, in the phone interview provided to KFGO News through an open records request, told Nitschke that Berndt was disruptive and swore at him. Berndt was removed from the plane after Lane told the flight crew about his behavior.
The county commission has begun the process of firing Berndt, but he's now asked for a public hearing.
Two years ago, Berndt was found not guilty of assaulting the 13 year-old son of his girlfriend in Moorhead. In 2011, he pleaded guilty to DWI in Minnesota's Otter Tail County.