Elizabeth Jacobson, Convicted In 2007 Fatal Crash, Arrested Twice This Spring For DUI
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Eleven years ago, Elizabeth Renee Jacobson was responsible for a drunk driving crash that killed the wife of a Ramsey County deputy.
Last month, she was arrested for DUI at a bar in Lino Lakes. This week, she was arrested again for DUI, and police were forced to ram her car off road to get her to stop.
Jacobson, 34, of Brooklyn Park, is charged with driving under the influence and fleeing police in connection to the Tuesday afternoon arrest.
According to a criminal complaint, police responded to a call around 2:30 p.m. about a woman slumped over the wheel of her car at a gas station in Shoreview. The caller said the woman, later identified as Jacobson, woke up, drove off erratically, nearly hitting several mailboxes.
Deputies spotted Jacobson's car driving east on County Road J and pursued her with sirens and lights on. At one point, she nearly slowed to a stop but then sped up again, heading toward Interstate 35.
Shortly after Jacobson exited the southbound ramp onto the interstate, a deputy rammed the back of her car, causing her to spin into guard rail and come to a stop.
To get her to come out of her car, deputies had to smash her driver's side window, the complaint states. When they moved her out of the car, she fell to the floor, speaking slowly and appearing extremely tired.
She denied drinking or using drugs. She said that she took an antidepressant, Effexor. The complaint notes that Effexor, while not a controlled substance, should not be taken with alcohol.
Deputies found Effexor in Jacobson's purse, as well as an empty 50 milliliter bottle of vodka in her driver's side door panel.
At the scene, Jacobson refused a breathe test. When she was taken to a hospital, however, she submitted to one. Police say that they heard hospital staff tell her she blew a .204, which is well beyond the legal limit of 0.08.
After being released from the hospital, Jacobson was booked into the county jail.
Less than a month ago, Jacobson was arrested for a DUI at a bar in Lino Lakes after an employee said she drove there drunk with her 10-year-old daughter in the car. She spent five days in jail and was charged with a DUI.
In 2007, on New Year's Eve, Jacobson drove drunk, going the wrong way down a highway and slamming head-on into a Ramsey County deputy's squad car. Deputy Joe Lopez suffered broken bones and his wife, Maggie, who was riding along, was killed.
Jacobson went to prison for five years.
If convicted of the most recent DUI charge, Jacobson faces a maximum penalty of 7 years in prison, as she was previously convicted of criminal vehicular homicide.