Star Tribune
Ex-Minneapolis police officer pleads guilty to criminal vehicular homicide ahead of trial
Ex-Minneapolis police officer Brian Cummings pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular homicide for his role in a high-speed chase that killed another driver nearly two years ago.
The plea deal means avoiding a jury trial in Hennepin County District Court and prison time by dismissing the second-degree manslaughter charge in connection to the fatal on-duty crash July 6, 2021 that killed Leneal Frazier, 40, of St. Paul.
Cummings, a 14-year veteran, left MPD when he was charged three months after the fatal crash resulting from the chase in north Minneapolis with a suspected carjacker who was arrested earlier this year. During the pursuit, Cummings’ squad car crashed into another car driven by Frazier, who was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Joshua Larson told District Judge Tamara Garcia that the parties reached a joint resolution for Cummings to serve up to one year in the county workhouse with a probationary term of three to five years. If he violates probation, the presumptive sentence would be four years.
Cummings’ sentencing is scheduled for June 22. He is not in custody.
Frazier was the uncle of Darnella Frazier, the teen who recorded ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes until he died. Cummings would’ve been the first Minneapolis police officer to stand trial since Chauvin, who was convicted of murder in 2021.
Cummings’ attorneys Thomas Plunkett and Debra Ellis read over the plea deal in court and a narrative of his patrol shift that night leading up to the crash. They stood before a dozen members of Frazier’s family across the aisle from Cummings’ family.
Cummings agreed that his speeds — reaching up to 100 mph — were dangerous and he had a duty to use due care in his driving. Larson asked Cummings to admit that he ran a red light when he crashed into Frazier, and Cummings agreed.
“I accept your guilty plea today,” Garcia told Cummings. “As of today you are convicted of this crime.”
The trial was originally set for September 2022 but rescheduled for May 1.
Frazier’s funeral at Minneapolis’ Shiloh Temple was attended by Floyd’s relatives and high-profile attorney Benjamin Crump, who told mourners that Frazier was an “innocent man minding his business” who was killed by Minneapolis police for not following its own chase policy. Frazier left behind six children.
Frazier’s death sparked a review of the city’s police pursuit policy, which says police may not initiate a pursuit or must end one if it “poses an unreasonable risk to the officers, the public or passengers of the vehicle being pursued who may be unwilling participants.”
Minneapolis attorney Jeff Storms, who is representing Frazier’s family, previously told the Star Tribune that he filed a notice of claim against the city — signaling a possible lawsuit after the criminal case is resolved. Storms did not return calls Thursday morning.
According to charges, Cummings was pursuing a stolen vehicle carjacked at gunpoint. The pursuit stretch about 20 blocks, reaching speeds up to 100 mph on residential streets where the speed limits are posted at 25 mph.
He was traveling about 78 mph when he hit Frazier at the intersection of N. Lyndale and 41st avenues.
Plunkett filed a motion in March 2022 asking the court to dismiss the case, but Judge Garcia denied.
“The accident was caused by Mr. Cummings driving 78-100 mph in a 25-mph residential zone, through a red light, and into an active intersection. These actions unquestionably caused the death of an innocent bystander …” Garcia wrote in her decision.
Before trial, Plunkett moved to offer Cummings’ prior pursuit experiences in the six months prior to the fatal crash. Plunkett said in court records that this experience would rebut witness testimony on behalf of the state that Cummings violated MPD pursuit policy. Former MPD Chief Medaria Arradondo was expected to testify that Cummings was driving too fast and failed to clear the intersection.
Other law enforcement officials were expected to take the witness stand and opine on the speeds reached in the pursuit, but Plunkett argued the MPD pursuit policy manual does not indicate a maximum pursuit speed or how officers should determine what risks are “unreasonable.”
On the contrary, Plunkett referenced MPD’s Pursuit Review Committee which found that Cummings “proactively performed his duty… with the intention of making Minneapolis safer by attempting to apprehend a violent and dangerous suspect.” The committee ruled Cummings did not violate department policy, Plunkett’s motion filed Monday said.
To prove manslaughter, prosecutors needed to show the death was caused by culpable negligence, or a matter so careless it disregards human life. Plunkett argued that Cummings was never reprimanded or told his pursuit conduct violated policy. He said in a pursuit one month before the fatal crash, Cummings reached speeds up to 102 mph on North Second Street and never received negative feedback from supervisors.
In fact, Plunkett argued that Cummings remained employed at MPD for three months after the fatal crash. He didn’t leave the department until charges were filed in late October 2021.
Police arrested the carjacker Cummings was pursuing 18 months after the fatal crash. James Jones-Drain had a dozen outstanding warrants on charges that include homicide and robbery. He was charged with fleeing police and auto theft for reportedly running several stop signs and red lights during the pursuit. Charges say he narrowly missed Frazier’s SUV.
This is a developing story. Check the startribune.com for updates.
Twin Amur tigers born at Como Zoo in August now have names — Marisa and Maks.
Two long-time volunteers who have worked with zookeepers to care for and teach the public about the zoo’s big cats came up with the names, the first to be born at the St. Paul zoo in more than 40 years.
Marisa, a name that the volunteers found to mean “spirited and tenacious,” call that a perfect reflection of her personality. The name also carries special significance for the Como Zoo community, as it honors a retired zookeeper of the same name who was instrumental in the care of large cats during her 43 years at the zoo, Como Zoo and Conservatory Director Michelle Furrer said.
The male cub has been named Maks, which is associated with meanings like “the greatest” or “strength and leadership.” The volunteers felt this was an apt description of the male cub’s confident demeanor and growing sense of leadership, Furrer said.
“Marisa and Maks aren’t just names; they’re a fun reminder of the passion and care that keep us committed to protecting wildlife every day,” Furrer said.
The newborns and their first-time mother, 7-year-old Bernadette, remain off view to allow for more bonding time, zoo officials said. The cubs’ father, 11-year-old Tsar, has been a Como resident since February 2019 and remains on view.
Fewer than 500 Amur tigers — also known as Siberian tigers — remain in the wild as they face critical threats from habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict, the zoo said.
Much of the wood waste in the metro area is sent to a processing site near Pig’s Eye Lake in St. Paul, where it is stored before being burned to produce energy at the St. Paul Cogeneration plant downtown.
Cogeneration provides power to about half of downtown and was originally built to manage elm-tree waste in response to Dutch elm disease. The plant burns approximately 240,000 tons of wood each year, according to Michael Auger, senior vice president of District Energy in St. Paul.
Jim Calkins, a certified landscape horticulturalist who has been involved in discussions about the problem, said he thinks using wood for energy is the most logical solution.
“The issue is, we don’t have enough facilities to be able to handle that, at least in the Twin Cities,” Calkins said. “So there has to be dollars to support transportation to get the wood to those places, or in some cases, to upgrade some of those facilities such that they are able to burn wood.”
Plans are in place to convert Koda Energy in Shakopee to burn ash wood, which could potentially handle around 40,000 tons of wood waste, but that would take around two years to establish, according to Klapperich.
In some areas of the state, cities have resorted to burning excess wood waste because they felt they had no other option. Open burning wood releases a lot of carbon into the air, Klapperich said.
Weary from the rat race nature of practicing commercial law, Danielle Miller had long dreamed of starting a new professional life as a bookstore owner. When the Lincoln, Neb., resident saw a space at St. Paul’s Union Depot, she moved to make her dream a reality. She and her husband now call the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood home.
Eye On St. Paul recently visited with Miller in her sun-drenched store, Story Line Books, to talk about what spurred her to leave the law behind and lose herself in shelves of books. This interview was edited for length.
Q: So, you’ve opened a bookstore, in Lowertown. Are you a little crazy?
A: That’s been the reaction. There’s been a lot of “Really? Lowertown?” There’s been a lot of that. It’s a little unnerving.
Q: Why decide to just up and move to St. Paul?
A: We travel a lot; we travel all over the world. And we go to bookstores. We were here visiting [my husband’s] parents in Woodbury, and we drove down Randolph because we like to eat at Due Focacceria. And we saw this building that had “For Sale” on it. It was a 900-square-foot retail spot on the bottom and an apartment above. And I was like, that is the European bookstore dream, right? I looked it up online, but it got scooped up. A week later, I was looking again and this [Union Depot space] was the first post.
I was immediately in love. The next time we were up here, we made arrangements to come and see it. And I told my husband, “You should probably get a job in St Paul.”
Q: Back up a few steps. Why this compulsion to open a bookstore when you were a working attorney?
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