MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minneapolis police officer has been charged with manslaughter and vehicular homicide for a crash in July that killed an innocent motorist while the officer was pursuing a stolen vehicle.
Authorities say Officer Brian Cummings was driving nearly 80 mph in Minneapolis with his siren and lights activated when his squad car slammed into a different vehicle, killing 40-year-old Leneal Frazier.
According to the Associated Press, Frazier's Jeep was struck on the driver's side.
Frazier was the uncle of Darnella Frazier, whose cellphone video of Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck in 2020 was viewed worldwide and helped launch a global protest movement against racial injustice.
After the deadly crash, Mayor Jacob Frey said the city would review its pursuit policy, the news outlet reported.
The Frazier family and their attorneys welcomed the charges, saying no innocent civilian should ever die because of unwarranted high-speed chases.
At the time of the fatal crash, Darnella said in a Facebook post that the "Minneapolis police has cost my whole family a big loss" and that they "took an innocent life trying to catch someone else."
According to the Associated Press, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner verified Leneal Frazier's death was due to "multiple blunt force injuries."
