A Mounds View woman has been charged with criminal vehicular homicide in the wrong-way crash that killed the wife of a Ramsey County sheriff's deputy on New Year's Day.

Prosecutors had been awaiting results of accident reconstruction and other reports before filing charges against Elizabeth R. Rhodes, 23, who also was critically injured in the accident.

Margaret (Maggie) Lopez, 56, had been on a ride-along with her husband, Deputy Joseph Lopez, when his squad car was struck head-on on County Road 10 in Mounds View at about 3:30 a.m. She died at the scene.

The complaint filed against Rhodes on Friday states that about an hour after the crash she had a blood-alcohol content of about 0.19 percent, or more than twice the legal limit for driving.

According to the complaint, a Mounds View police officer saw Rhodes' vehicle traveling in the wrong direction while he was answering a call on a nearby county road -- and about 40 minutes after he'd left a drunken girlfriend and boyfriend to cool off in a Mounds View apartment.

The police officer gave pursuit, the complaint said, and when he came upon the crash, he recognized Rhodes as the girlfriend in that earlier domestic-abuse call.

On Friday, county prosecutors issued a warrant for her arrest, with bail to be set at $150,000. As of Friday afternoon, Rhodes had yet to be taken into custody.

She is expected to make her first court appearance next week, according to a Ramsey County attorney's office spokeswoman.

ANTHONY LONETREE