Stiffer charge for mom accused of causing crash north of Twin Cities that killed 1 child, injured 4

One of five young children has died of his injuries after his mother, who was high on methamphetamine, caused a head-on collision Friday on a two-lane road north of the Twin Cities, according to charges.

The Chisago County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that 4-year-old Anthony J. Sobaski “sustained a significant brain injury”; he had been on life support at Gillette Children’s Hospital in St. Paul. Four other children were injured.

Ashlee Rose Klapperick, 36, of Mora, Minn., was charged Tuesday in Chisago County District Court with six counts of criminal vehicular operation in connection with the collision with a minivan on Rush Lake Trail northwest of Rush City near the intersection with Belle Isle Drive.

The 4-year-old’s death led to the County Attorney’s Office upgrading one of the counts to criminal vehicular homicide.

Klapperick was taken by emergency medical responders to Regions Hospital for treatment of her injuries and then booked into jail Tuesday night. She remains jailed in lieu of $150,000 bail ahead of an April 7 court hearing. Her attorney did not return a message from the Star Tribune for comment.

Another of Klapperick’s children in her car, a 3-year-old, was hurt, as were three children in the other vehicle, ages 9, 4 and 3.

Minnesota court records show that Klapperick has been convicted twice for driving after her license was suspended or revoked, and once for not having vehicle insurance. She had a valid license at the time of the collision, according to the State Department of Public Safety.

According to the complaint:

First responders arrived at the scene and found Klapperick’s 4-year-old unconscious and not breathing. They gave Anthony more than 10 minutes of chest compressions before he was taken by air ambulance to Gillette Children’s with a light pulse.

A motorist behind the minivan told deputies that the northbound car crossed the center line, and the minivan’s driver attempted to avoid being hit, but the two vehicles collided head-on.

Klapperick told deputies she was doing “squeezy blinks” — longer blinks than normal — and “when she opened her eyes, the van was right there,” the charges read.

She admitted using meth a couple of days before and marijuana the day before the crash.