Man spared prison for driving drunk, killing cousin when he crashed SUV in Brooklyn Park

A man has been spared prison for driving drunk and killing his cousin in Brooklyn Park.

Lamoind Preston Cunningham, 44, of Minneapolis, was sentenced Monday in Hennepin County District Court after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the wreck on March 30 in the 7000 block of N. 68th Avenue.

Judge Paul Scoggin set aside a 6¾-year term and opted to sentence Cunningham to a year in the workhouse. His sentence also includes five years’ probation.

The passenger, Lamont C. Cunningham, 50, of Minneapolis, died soon after being taken by emergency responders to North Memorial Health Hospital, where he died that night.

According to the criminal complaint:

Lamoind Cunningham left the road on a curve about 7:20 p.m., sending his SUV into a tree and landing in a ditch. Lamont Cunningham was unresponsive to medical personnel’s efforts to have him regain consciousness.

A firefighter among those removing Lamoind Cunningham from the vehicle detected the smell of alcohol on the driver and other indications of being intoxicated.

Lamoind Cunningham admitted to police that he drank too much before the crash. He said he had two beers about 2 p.m. and drank later that day at his cousin’s home, where he had about one-fifth of a bottle of hard liquor.

Public court records do not include any results of Lamoind Cunningham’s blood alcohol content at the time of the crash.