MINNEAPOLIS — The family of Leneal Frazier, the man killed after a Minneapolis police officer crashed into his car while chasing another vehicle back in 2021, has filed a federal lawsuit against the city, claiming that its practices played a role in his death.
The family is seeking unspecified damages, but for Richard Frazier, Leneal's brother, money doesn't matter.
"I don't care, I love my brother, I miss my brother," he said. There's not an amount of money that they can give us that's going to bring my brother back."
The lawsuit filed Thursday claims that the city's "unlawful customs and practices" allowed police to engage — and continue — high-speed pursuits, similar to the chase that killed Leneal. According to court documents, MPD Officer Brian Cummings reached speeds close to 100 mph for nearly 20 blocks prior to the crash.
The chase wound through north Minneapolis, including residential neighborhoods. Eventually, prosecutors said Cummings ran a red light at Lyndale and 41st Avenues North and collided with a Jeep driven by Leneal, who died from the significant injuries he sustained in the crash. Last year, Cummings pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 270 days in prison.
"All it took was for him to have some type of compassion and type of concern of other people that was on the road, and we wouldn't be going to 41st and Lyndale to celebrate my brother's legacy as memory," Richard said.
Storms Dworak LLC, the law firm representing the Frazier family, also released new dash cam, body-worn camera and traffic camera footage from the night of the crash. Jeff Storms says they would have liked to have brought this to a lawsuit sooner, but had to wait until Cummings' criminal case ran it's course.
"I think what was very hard for the family was waiting to really see what happened to their brother, and we have now the dash cam. We have the body cam evidence," Storms said. "And now, for his children, for his siblings, you know, they've now seen that Leneal suffered horribly after this crash."
Storms says it's unclear when this lawsuit could go to trial.
In the federal lawsuit, Storms pulled data from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) that showed 24% of MPD's pursuits since 2021 ended in crashes, the highest of any law enforcement agency in the state. The suit also says Cummings was involved in at least 12 instances of "dangerous, high-speed pursuits" in 2021, with only four resulting in an arrest of the suspect.
The lawsuit also claims the city's practices disproportionately targeted Black drivers, adding that those high-speed pursuits were also more likely to occur in neighborhoods with high numbers of Black residents.
In a statement, the city said it has no comment at this time.
The City of Minneapolis updated its police pursuit policies in 2019, the same year Jose Madrid Salcido, a father of four, was killed by a man fleeing police at the intersection of Aldrich Avenue and 36th Avenue North. In that case, the chase began when the suspect suddenly drove off after being stopped by officers on suspicion of selling drugs.
Ultimately, it's up to the officer to decide when to initiate a chase, and it's up to the officer or supervisors to decide when to break away from it. Generally, the department requires officers to believe one of the following:
- The driver is linked to a violent felony or gross misdemeanor
- The driver is about to commit a violent crime
- The person is driving in such a flagrantly reckless way they're putting bystanders and their own passengers in danger
The crimes listed in the policy include murder, sex crimes, robberies, arson, kidnapping, carjacking, 1st and 2nd-degree assault and terrorist acts.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist: