Rochester Man Ordered to Prison For Fatal Drunk Driving Crash
Red Wing, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Rochester man with a history of DWI convictions has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for a drunk driving crash earlier this year that killed a passenger in his vehicle.
34-year-old Dustin Hicks told investigators in Goodhue County the crash in late April occurred when he swerved to avoid a deer, causing him to lose control of his vehicle which went into a ditch along a rural road near Red Wing and rolled. 34-year-old Krista Koblitz of Rochester was ejected from the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene
A preliminary breath test administered after the deadly crash put Hicks’ blood-alcohol-concentration at .2. Court records show he also gave a statement indicating he had been smoking marijuana all day and then started drinking at a concert the day of the fatal incident.
His criminal history includes three DWI convictions in Olmsted and Wabasha Counties. Prior to the April crash that killed the Rochester woman, Hicks’ most recent offense occurred in 2011 and led to a sentence of 3 months in jail.
(The story is corrected to identify the crash victim as the passenger rather than a girlfriend.)
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