DWI, hit-and-run charges filed after Eden Prairie ambulance crash

An Eden Prairie woman is facing charges after allegedly striking an ambulance with her vehicle and refusing a chemical test following her arrest last month.

Sarah Lauren Tangen, 36, is charged in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree driving while impaired (test refusal), a gross misdemeanor, and failing to stop after a collision, a misdemeanor, according to court records.

According to a criminal complaint, Eden Prairie police were dispatched at about 10:45 p.m. April 17 to a hit-and-run report near the 6200 block of St. John’s Drive, a residential street on the northeastern edge of Eden Prairie, just south of the Minnetonka border near Baker Road and across from Life Time Crosstown.

Paramedics said a dark-colored Volkswagen hatchback collided with their ambulance on the driver’s side and continued west without stopping.

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Officers traced the license plate to Tangen’s nearby residence. When police contacted her, they observed signs of intoxication, including the odor of alcohol, watery eyes, slurred speech and a warm hood on the vehicle. Officers also noted fresh damage to the front passenger side.

Tangen denied driving the vehicle and refused to perform field sobriety tests, the complaint states. A neighbor later told officers Tangen had arrived home just minutes earlier and had been driving.

After her arrest, Tangen refused to submit to a breath test at the Eden Prairie Police Department.

Court records show Tangen has two prior DWI convictions, including a second-degree DWI in 2019. She was booked into Hennepin County Jail early April 18 and released later that evening on $12,000 conditional bail. Her first court appearance is scheduled for May 7 at the Ridgedale courthouse in Minnetonka.