Ex-MPD officer Brian Cummings pleads guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in crash that killed Leneal Frazier
MINNEAPOLIS -- The former Minneapolis police officer accused in the fatal high-speed crash that killed Leneal Frazier in 2021 has taken a plea deal.
On Thursday afternoon, Brian Cummings entered the plea deal during a court hearing and it was accepted. He's now guilty of criminal vehicular homicide.
Cummings originally pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter and criminal vehicular homicide charges. His trial was set to start Monday.
With his plea deal, the second-degree manslaughter charge will be dismissed at the time of sentencing, scheduled for June 22.
For the vehicular homicide charge, Cummings is expected to be sentenced to a stay of imposition for three to five years, serve up to one year in the workhouse, pay restitution and follow the conditions of probation.
Cummings didn't say anything as he left the courtroom. Frazier's family spoke after the hearing.
"We're happy that we got some justice," said Richard Frazier, Leneal's brother. "Something is better than nothing. At this point, nothing brings my brother back. We love him. We miss him."
Court documents say Cummings was pursuing a stolen vehicle in north Minneapolis shortly after midnight on July 6, 2021, when his marked squad car slammed into the driver's side of Frazier's Jeep at nearly 80 mph.
Before the crash, Cummings was following the car at high speeds "at or approaching 100 mph" through numerous stop signs, red lights, and partially obstructed intersections, many of which blocked the view of approaching vehicles, the complaint said.
Cummings said during the hearing he was grossly negligent in speeding and driving through a red light when he hit Frazier.
"I just cried," Richard Frazier said. "It was hard to hear that because in my mind, it felt like he didn't care. That's how I took it."
Minneapolis police policy says officers are not to pursue suspects when there is an "unreasonable risk to the officer, the public or passengers of the vehicle being pursued." Police can begin a chase if they believe "a serious and violent felony or gross misdemeanor" has either been committed or about to be committed by the suspect.
Frazier's family says they are relieved that Cummings took responsibility, but they have mixed feelings about the plea deal.
"We're happy and we're not, but we don't have to go through the trial," Richard Frazier said. "But as far as him accepting responsibility, that puts me at ease."
Frazier's family will speak at the sentencing in June. Their lawyer says they'll be filing a civil lawsuit against the city.
Over a year later, James Jones-Drain was accused of leading Cummings on the chase. He was charged with two felony counts of vehicle theft and one charge of fleeing a police officer in a vehicle, resulting in the death of a victim.
Frazier, a 40-year-old father of five, was also the uncle of Darnella Frazier, the teenager who recorded the video of George Floyd's murder that was seen around the world.
