A woman said she spent the day bar-hopping before getting behind the wheel drunk and causing a fatal head-on crash in South St. Paul that killed her ex-husband sitting next to her, according to a criminal complaint.
Bobbie Jo Braun, 52, of North St. Paul, was charged Wednesday with criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation in connection with the collision Monday that killed 60-year-old Paul E. Craven, of West St. Paul.
Braun remains jailed in lieu of $150,000 bail. She's due in court on June 21. Court records do not list an attorney for her.
A police officer gave Braun a preliminary breath test at the scene, and her blood alcohol content was measured at 0.201%, more than twice the legal limit for driving in Minnesota, the complaint said.
According to the charges:
Braun was heading south on Concord Street at about 3:20 p.m., when she crossed into the northbound lane and hit a pickup truck head-on. Craven was taken by emergency responders to Regions Hospital, where he died. A 64-year-old passenger in Braun's van went to the same hospital with spinal fractures and broken bones in his chest.
The 55-year-old pickup driver, less seriously injured, told police he saw Braun's southbound van suddenly cross into his lane and hit him head-on. Surveillance video from a nearby business showed the pickup driver trying to avoid the collision.
An officer saw Braun sitting on a sidewalk near the damaged vehicles. Her speech was slurred, and her eyes were watery. She had difficulty responding when the officer asked for her phone and address.
