Charges: Unlicensed drunken driver crashes near Red Wing, kills passenger

A motorist stripped of his license after the state deemed him too great a risk to the public crashed his car while drunk and high following a Snoop Dogg concert near Red Wing, sending his passenger to her death in a watery ditch, according to charges.

Dustin L. Hicks, 34, of Rochester, was charged Monday in Goodhue County District Court with criminal vehicular homicide, drunken driving and driving with a canceled license in connection with the rollover crash Saturday about 9 miles southwest of County 6 Boulevard in Featherstone Township.

The wreck killed Krista Koblitz, 34, of Rochester, according to authorities. She was thrown from the vehicle and died at the scene.

A preliminary breath test at the scene administered by a sheriff's deputy measured Hicks' blood alcohol content at 0.202, more than twice the legal limit for driving in Minnesota.

Hicks remains jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail before a May 22 court appearance. Messages were left with his attorney seeking a response to the allegations.

His criminal history in Minnesota includes three drunken-driving convictions since 2008, three for domestic assault, two for disorderly conduct and one for marijuana possession.

Koblitz's online obituary said she worked in home health care and that "included being a fundamental part of caring for her grandparents so they could remain in their home."

A caller to 911 shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday alerted authorities to a severely damaged car in the ditch and a man looking for a woman believed to have been in the vehicle.

A deputy spotted Koblitz's body in the ditch in about an inch of water. Hicks was standing nearby and had a "front to back sway," the charges read.

Hicks told the deputy he had been drinking before driving and lost control of his car while swerving away from a deer.

He said he drank "some beers," two alcoholic drinks and ingested marijuana. He said he had his seat belt on but Koblitz did not.