ARDEN HILLS, Minn — A Minneapolis man is accused of driving drunk and causing a crash that killed two people on Interstate 694 in Arden Hills on Friday, Feb 16.
Prosecutors charged Luis Eduardo Tipantuna Quinchiguano, 31, of Minneapolis, with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide.
According to the criminal complaint, Minnesota State Patrol troopers and deputies with Ramsey County Sheriff responded to a multiple-vehicle crash on I-694 and Snelling Avenue North last Friday at 8:45 a.m.
Witnesses said that a 2008 Chevrolet Equinox driven by Quinchiguano was driving erratically by changing lanes often without signaling and weaving through traffic.
Eventually, Quinchiguano crashed into a Chevy Malibu and pushed the car sideways into the left lane in front of an oncoming semi-truck.
Authorities said the semi broadsided the Malibu, killing 76-year-old Curtis Curtis O'Connor and 74-year-old Karin O'Connor inside the car.
When officers came to the Equinox driven by Quinchiguano, they found "open bottles of alcohol" and say he "smelled of a strong odor of consumed alcoholic beverages," according to the complaint.
Officers said Quinchiguano was unconscious and breathing. He didn't have "observable external injuries" and had urinated in his clothing. Quinchiguano would regain consciousness but then quickly fall back to sleep again. They said he strongly smelled of alcohol and his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, according to court documents.
Authorities said a paramedic expressed that Quinchiguano was so intoxicated that he would need to go to a hospital.
Officers gave him a preliminary alcohol screening test and it registered .218 BAC "on a very weak puff of breath," according to the complaint. The legal BAC limit is .08.
Authorities said Quinchiguano’s blood test is pending.