Citizen Accuses U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley of Fleeing From Traffic Accident, but That Citizen Also Initially Refused to File a Police Report

A woman named Britney Berger has taken to social media to accuse U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley (who she says is Lt. Governor, though he hasn’t held that position in years) of causing a traffic accident and fleeing the scene.

Here’s her post, complete with pictures:

I reached out to the Fargo Police Department. Spokeswoman Jessica Schindeldecker told me that Berger did contact them the night of the crash with Wrigley. “She did speak to an officer,” Schindeldecker said, adding that it was a few hours after the incident itself due to the low priority of the call and how busy the department was that evening. “At that time she didn’t want to file a police report.”

It wasn’t until after Berger wrote her Facebook post, which began attracting public attention, that the Fargo Police reached out to her again to make sure there wasn’t anything more she wanted. Schindeldecker said Berger told an investigator that she may be filing a crash report on the incident some time today.

That’s an odd timeline which doesn’t reflect well on Berger’s credibility. It suggests she perhaps didn’t become as upset about the incident as her social media post indicates until she realized she was dealing with a high-profile political figure.

One she clearly doesn’t know too well as, again, she is referring to him as the Lt. Governor. An office he hasn’t held since 2016.

It’s not unusual for there to be a delay in filing a police report or crash report in these sort of minor fender benders. Sometimes a person involved will realize later that they need one for insurance purposes. But Berger’s Facebook post claims Wrigley was trying to get away with something. She accuses him of fleeing the scene of the accident.

If she really believed that, why didn’t she file a police report immediately? Fleeing the scene of an accident is a serious crime, and if Berger really believes Wrigley was guilty of it, why decline to file a report when you’re talking to law enforcement?

I spoke with Wrigley this morning as well. He indicated that he was leaving his Fargo office late and heading to his mother’s home (he lives in Bismarck).

He said after the accident occurred he pulled over and had a lengthy conversation with Berger. He said he gave her his contact information, and insurance information, and also insisted that she take a picture of his vehicle’s license plate. His expectation, when he left the scene, was that their respective insurance companies would figure out how to resolve the issue of damage.

He said the damage to his vehicle was so minor he doesn’t plan on getting it fixed, and that he wasn’t aware of Berger’s Facebook post until he was contacted by journalists about it.

If Wrigley really did flee, why would he leave his contact information? Why would he even stop and allow his vehicle to be photographed by Berger? Her photo shows his vehicle stopped, which gibes more with Wrigley’s version of events that Berger’s.

It will be interesting to see if Berger follows through and files a report with the police. It’s one thing to make accusations on social media. It’s another to make them in an official report to police.

UPDATE: Wrigley has provided me with a photograph of the hand-written information Berger provided him that evening (her address has been redacted). As I mentioned earlier in the post, Wrigley says he provided her with the same information that evening.

Again, if Berger’s claim is that Wrigley fled the scene, how did they exchange information?