Unlicensed driver admits speeding when he veered off overpass, killed son in Brooklyn Center

A 25-year-old man has pleaded guilty to being under the influence of alcohol and speeding when he veered off an overpass and killed one of his children in a crash this summer in Brooklyn Center.

Hakeem O. Miller, of Brooklyn Center, pleaded guilty Friday in Hennepin County District Court to two counts each of criminal vehicular homicide and child endangerment in connection with the crash about 2:30 a.m. Aug. 1 that killed a 1-year-old boy and injured Miller, a woman and four other children.

Miller is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 17 by Judge Martha Anne Holton Dimick.

The 1-year-old, Kareem Miller, was one of two children sitting on the laps of older children in the back seat, according to the charges. None of the children, ranging in age from 1 to 9, was in the required restraint device, the charges added. A loaded handgun was under the driver's seat, the complaint read.

A preliminary breath test administered by the State Patrol soon after the crash put Miller's blood alcohol content at 0.09%, above the legal limit for driving in Minnesota, the complaint read. A subsequent test put the level at just below 0.07%, within the legal limit for driving, according to court records.

Miller was driving while his license was suspended.

Surveillance video captured the SUV speeding on N. Dupont Avenue before it went over a barricade, through a chain-link fence and down to Interstate 94, where it came to a rest on its roof, the charges read.

Still pending against Miller are charges filed last year out of Freeborn County that he possessed a gun while under the influence of alcohol and recklessly handled a weapon.