A former Minneapolis police officer was sentenced to around nine months in jail Wednesday for a crash that killed an innocent driver as the officer pursued a stolen vehicle, officials said.
The former officer, Brian Cummings, was sentenced to 270 days in county jail after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said.
Cummings was chasing a stolen vehicle early July 6, 2021, and the officer ran a red light before crashing into an uninvolved Jeep and killing Leneal Frazier, 40, the prosecutor’s office said.
“Today’s sentencing sends an important message that every person in our county will be held accountable for their actions when they break the law,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement.
Cummings was charged in October 2021 with second-degree manslaughter and criminal vehicular homicide.
Leneal’s brother, Richard Frazier, asked the court for jail time at Wednesday’s sentencing, NBC affiliate KARE of Minneapolis reported.
“We’re asking please send him to jail. It’s not a lot of time but it’s something,” he said.
Cummings was chasing a suspect in an armed carjacking and robbery when the crash occurred, according to police documents.
Cummings had his lights and siren on during the chase, which began around 12:30 a.m. and lasted around 20 blocks, according to a criminal complaint.
The officer was traveling about 90 mph right before running the red light. At the time he struck Frazier’s Jeep his speed was 78 mph, the complaint says. Frazier had the green light at the intersection.
Cummings pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in April.
He apologized to the Frazier family in court Wednesday.
“I’d like to take this time to acknowledge the great pain and suffering that the Frazier family’s experiencing, and I’d like to also offer my most heartfelt apology,” he said, according to video from KARE.
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