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Minneapolis man charged in deadly crash on I-694
Officers said the driver smelled of alcohol and registered .218 BAC on his preliminary breath test.
ARDEN HILLS, Minn — A Minneapolis man is accused of driving drunk and causing a crash that killed two people on Interstate 694 in Arden Hills on Friday, Feb 16.
Prosecutors charged Luis Eduardo Tipantuna Quinchiguano, 31, of Minneapolis, with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide.
According to the criminal complaint, Minnesota State Patrol troopers and deputies with Ramsey County Sheriff responded to a multiple-vehicle crash on I-694 and Snelling Avenue North last Friday at 8:45 a.m.
Witnesses said that a 2008 Chevrolet Equinox driven by Quinchiguano was driving erratically by changing lanes often without signaling and weaving through traffic.
Eventually, Quinchiguano crashed into a Chevy Malibu and pushed the car sideways into the left lane in front of an oncoming semi-truck.
Authorities said the semi broadsided the Malibu, killing 76-year-old Curtis Curtis O’Connor and 74-year-old Karin O’Connor inside the car.
When officers came to the Equinox driven by Quinchiguano, they found “open bottles of alcohol” and say he “smelled of a strong odor of consumed alcoholic beverages,” according to the complaint.
Officers said Quinchiguano was unconscious and breathing. He didn’t have “observable external injuries” and had urinated in his clothing. Quinchiguano would regain consciousness but then quickly fall back to sleep again. They said he strongly smelled of alcohol and his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, according to court documents.
Authorities said a paramedic expressed that Quinchiguano was so intoxicated that he would need to go to a hospital.
Officers gave him a preliminary alcohol screening test and it registered .218 BAC “on a very weak puff of breath,” according to the complaint. The legal BAC limit is .08.
Authorities said Quinchiguano’s blood test is pending.
Police said the 7-year-old victim was skateboarding on Saturday night.
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The road closure is expected to last until about 11:30 p.m. tonight, according to MnDOT.
MINNETONKA, Minn. — Officials have closed the westbound lanes of US Highway 12 starting at I-494 in Minnetonka after a collision occurred on Saturday night.
According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s 511 Map, the road is closed and there was a “serious crash,” on the highway.
The road closure is expected to last until about 11:30 p.m. tonight, according to MnDOT.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
“It’s amazing how well and good the people are helping out,” volunteer Connie Guinn said.
ELK PARK, N.C. — It’s still difficult for Mike Ellenburg to see the damage Helene left in Elk Park, North Carolina.
“Never in my lifetime, no I have not,” Ellenburg, Fire Chief at the Elk Park Volunteer Fire Department, said. “We had to bring in heavy equipment and open the road up.”
The storm left homes destroyed, trees toppled and cars flipped. It’s left roads near rivers and creeks nearby unrecognizable.
“Used to be a paved road, houses on both sides,” he said. “They’re gone.”
“You’ll see some vehicles down here that are sideways, and they’ll have spray paint on ’em,” Ellenburg continued. “Marking that that vehicle has been checked and that nobody was inside of it or around it.”
Ellenburg says he believes there are four areas around Elk Park in a similar state, damaged and difficult to get into. Despite that, help is still coming, both from the town and the rest of the state.
“We’re just trying to get it organized,” Connie Guinn, a volunteer said, standing in front of pallets of food and water. “Because we can’t find nothing, and neither can anybody else.”
Donations have continued to arrive at the Elk Park Volunteer Fire Department. Ellenburg says some have even come from around the country.
Other agencies, like the Dallas, North Carolina volunteer fire department, have also arrived to help where they can.
“It’s amazing how well and good the people are helping out,” Guinn said.
Ellenburg says it will take time to rebuild their community, but it’s made easier to get through with neighbors like theirs.
“I would only say that I don’t want to live anywhere else but here in Avery County, North Carolina,” he said.
