21-04-2025
Woman to serve 364 days in 2023 crash that killed Appleton, Minnesota, man
Apr. 21---- A woman convicted of reckless driving in the Oct. 15, 2023, crash near Milan that killed an
man and seriously injured his wife and children will serve 364 days in jail.
District Court Judge Laurence Stratton on April 16 sentenced Presley Lynn Boogaard, 33, currently an inmate in South Dakota, to serve the jail time beginning on Oct. 15, 2027, the four-year anniversary date of the fatal crash.
She is currently serving a five-year sentence in South Dakota for distribution of a controlled substance, according to the South Dakota Department of Corrections website. It lists her sentencing date as Sept. 24, 2024, and her initial parole date as April 25, 2027.
South Dakota corrections officials did not respond to a photo request before the deadline for this story, and the Chippewa County Sheriff's Office does not have a booking photo.
Boogaard, formerly of Big Stone City, South Dakota, entered an Alford plea in Minnesota's Chippewa County District Court on Feb. 5 to a gross misdemeanor charge of reckless driving — cause great bodily harm. A misdemeanor charge of careless driving was dismissed.
In an Alford plea, which is treated as a guilty plea, a defendant acknowledges a reasonable belief there is sufficient evidence to secure a conviction but does not expressly admit guilt.
The fatal crash occurred shortly after 4 p.m. on a sunny Sunday on a straight and level section of the highway, according to the criminal complaint filed against Boogaard.
She was driving a 2007 Jeep Commander northbound on Minnesota Highway 7/U.S. Highway 59 and collided with a southbound 2006 Chevrolet driven by Curtis Dean Olson, 35 of Appleton.
Olson was pronounced dead at the scene. His wife, Amy Marie Olson, 29 at the time, was transported to the Appleton Area Health Hospital and subsequently airlifted to Avera McKennan and the Avera Heart Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Amy Olson required surgery for a torn aorta and suffered fractured ribs, lacerations and a broken pelvis, according to a fundraising web page set up for the family after the crash.
Two of the couple's children, Derrick Quienton Olson, then 13, and Shawn Ronnie Olson, then 15, were transported to the Appleton Area Health Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. The couple's two young daughters were not with them at the time.
The community of
hosted a fundraiser on behalf of the survivors following the crash. Curtis Olson had worked as a butcher at the Appleton Meat Market, and was well-known in the community.
Boogaard suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the crash.
The criminal complaint states that a witness following Boogaard on the highway did not observe any problems with her driving from Montevideo until about 1-1/2 to 2 miles before the crash. He said her Jeep then began swaying within its lane, bad enough that he slowed down and was about to call 911 to report the driving conduct.
Just prior to the crash, the witness saw the Jeep drift to the right, and then jerk from the right shoulder into the oncoming lane of travel right in front of the pickup. He said the oncoming vehicle did not have a chance to avoid the crash, according to the complaint.
Interviewed at the scene by a Minnesota State Patrol trooper, Boogaard said she was shaken by the accident and not really sure what happened. She stated that she swerved, then the other vehicle swerved, and then they collided, the complaint stated.
She had been awake from about 2 to 2:30 a.m. and had worked at a McDonald's restaurant from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and said she was tired from being up at the crack of dawn for work that day, but otherwise felt fine.
She showed no sign of drug or alcohol impairment and denied any use of a cellphone or other distractions, according to the complaint.
