Mother gets year in jail for driving drunk with children

ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) — A Rochester mother has pleaded guilty to driving drunk with five of her children in her vehicle and been sentenced to a year in jail.

Authorities say 42-year-old Tasha Schleicher in September 2017 drove drunk, sideswiped a median cable barrier, then exited the highway and pulled over to breast feed her baby along the side of the road.

She lost custody of her children and was charged with child endangerment, drunken driving and failing to have a driver’s license. She pleaded guilty last week to misdemeanor drunken driving and all other charges were dismissed.

Schleicher also was sentenced last week in Hennepin County District Court after being convicted of felony drunken driving stemming from an October 2017 arrest in Bloomington. She was sentenced to nearly 3½ years in prison.