Ex-Minneapolis police officer pleads guilty to criminal vehicular homicide before trial

Former Minneapolis police officer Brian Cummings pleaded guilty Thursday to criminal vehicular homicide for his role in a chase that ended in a crash that killed another driver nearly two years ago.

The plea deal avoids next week's scheduled jury trial and prison time for the fatal on-duty crash July 6, 2021.

Cummings, a 14-year veteran, left the Police Department when he was charged three months after the pursuit of a suspected carjacker in north Minneapolis. The chase led to a collision between his squad car and an SUV driven by Leneal Frazier. Frazier was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Joshua Larson told District Judge Tamara Garcia that a second-degree manslaughter charge was dismissed in exchange for the vehicular homicide guilty plea.

Cummings is expected 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. He is not in custody and will be sentenced June 22.

"As of today, you are convicted of this crime," Garcia told Cummings.

The former officer agreed that his speeds of up to 100 mph were dangerous and that he had a duty to use due care. Larson asked Cummings if he ran a red light when he crashed into Frazier, and Cummings said yes.

Frazier, 40, of St. Paul, was a father of six and 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 in 2020.

Standing before a dozen of Frazier's relatives across the aisle from Cummings' family, defense attorneys Thomas Plunkett and Deborah Ellis read the plea deal and a narrative of the ex-officer's patrol shift on the night of the crash.

"Today is hard but we got some justice. Something is better than nothing," brother Richard Frazier said. "It just felt like [Cummings] just didn't care. That's how I took it. Like 100 miles per hour? That's ridiculous. ... It took this long for him to admit that he's guilty."

Attorney Jeff Storms, who represents Frazier's family, said he's not aware of any officer in Minnesota previously voluntarily pleading to this type of charge.

"Charges in cases like this are exceedingly rare," he said. "The fact that there was a charge really does underscore how egregious the conduct was."

Storms filed a notice of claim against the city — signaling a possible lawsuit now that criminal case is resolved. He said he believes the Police Department likely has a broader problem in the handling of its police pursuits.

Frazier's death sparked a review of the city's police pursuit policy, which says officers 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."

Plunkett wanted to offer evidence at trial on Cummings' pursuit experiences to show that he didn't violate department pursuit policy. Former Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo was expected to testify that Cummings was driving too fast. But Plunkett argued the policy doesn't indicate a maximum pursuit speed or what risks are "unreasonable."

The department's Pursuit Review Committee found that Cummings "proactively performed his duty ... with the intention of making Minneapolis safer by attempting to apprehend a violent and dangerous suspect," according to Plunkett's motion filed Monday.

Cummings was never reprimanded or told his pursuit conduct violated policy, Plunkett argued. In a chase one month before the fatal crash, Cummings sped up to 102 mph on North Second Street and received no negative feedback from supervisors.

According to charges, Cummings was pursuing a stolen vehicle carjacked at gunpoint. The chase stretched through about 20 residential blocks 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.

Police arrested the suspected carjacker, James Jones-Drain, 18 months after the crash. Jones-Drain, who had a dozen outstanding warrants on charges that included homicide and robbery, was charged with fleeing police and auto theft for reportedly running several stop signs and red lights during the pursuit. According to the charges, he narrowly missed Frazier's SUV.

Richard Frazier said his family will continue memorializing his brother at the intersection.

"Nothing brings my brother back," he said. "We love him. We miss him. He was everything to us. My world. My oldest brother. I love him dearly."