Park County prosecutors have decided to pursue a felony charge against a Billings woman alleged to have drunkenly slammed into an SUV carrying two Powell High School students in April.

On Monday, the Park County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Korrie H. Schauer, 44, with causing serious bodily injury while driving under the influence of alcohol.

Schauer, who had not been arrested as of Wednesday morning, could face as much as 10 years in prison and a $5,000 fine if she’s convicted.

At the scene of the April 18 crash, Schauer denied being the driver, telling a Wyoming Highway Patrolwoman that the other person in the Dodge Ram had been driving. However, charging documents say the other occupant identified Schauer as the driver and that the driver’s seat appeared to be set up for a smaller person like Schauer — not the much larger man she was with.

Trooper Laurie Crocker witnessed the crash and captured it on her patrol car’s dashboard video camera. Crocker was watching an SUV — containing Powell High School students Kalan Nicholson and Mason Olsen — slow down for Ralston’s 45 and 35 mile-an-hour zones when a Dodge Ram came speeding up from behind. Crocker clocked the truck at 88 miles an hour (nearly double the speed limit) before it smashed into the SUV. The SUV was spun around, rolled over, then flipped end-over-end just off the highway, Crocker wrote in a report used to support the charge against Schauer.

The Dodge Ram, meanwhile, kept rolling forward and almost hit the SUV again. Despite wearing a seatbelt, Nicholson had been partially ejected from the SUV and “had a second impact occurred, the results would have been devastating,” Crocker wrote.

The trooper said the Dodge Ram went through a fence, over an irrigation ditch and through some irrigation pipe before stopping about 150 feet from the highway.

Schauer left the truck after the crash. Authorities found her laying in a nearby field, yelling that she was cold and wanted someone to call her mother, Crocker wrote. Schauer smelled like alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and was slurring her speech, Crocker said in her report. A blood sample was taken as Schauer wasn’t in a condition to perform sobriety or breath tests, the report says.

All four people involved in the crash — Schauer and her alleged passenger and PHS students Olsen and Nicholson — were initially taken to Powell Valley Hospital for medical treatment. Nicholson suffered the most severe injuries and had to be transferred to Billings, Montana; the collision broke her neck and she must wear a brace for months.

“If I get bumped wrong or if I fall wrong, it could paralyze me,” Nicholson said in a recent interview.

Schauer was initially charged with a misdemeanor count of driving while under the influence of alcohol. She pleaded not guilty at an April 20 appearance in Park County Circuit Court in Cody and was allowed to remain free after posting a $3,500 surety bond.

Schauer had faced up to six months in jail and $750 in fines under that initial charge, but the Park County Attorney’s office replaced it with the felony count and its substantially higher potential penalties this week.

Kalan Nicholson’s father, Monty Nicholson, called in to KODI-AM’s “Speak Your Piece” program on Tuesday to ask the local lawmakers appearing on the program if they would support tougher penalties for drunk drivers who injure others.

“If the same person would have almost killed two kids with a weapon, we would be stringing them up right now, but using a vehicle, it seems like it could just be a slap on the wrist,” Monty Nicholson said in his call, apparently referring to the initial, already-replaced misdemeanor charge.

Deputy Park County prosecuting attorney, Rep. Sam Krone, R-Cody, responded that the Legislature recently crafted stiffer penalties for repeat offenders and for people who drive with exceptionally high blood alcohol content levels.

“It’s something that we’re well aware of and we’re going to continue to work on,” Krone said on KODI.

In a follow-up interview, Krone said it can be difficult to seek enhanced punishment when — unlike this case — the injuries from an alleged drunk driver do not meet “the real high standard of serious bodily injury.”

“I think that there is a gap between bodily injury and serious bodily injury that we should look at,” Krone said.

As for the driver who injured Kalan Nicholson, “Talk about just outrageous behavior,” Krone said on KODI. “You know, 88 miles per hour.”