Driver police were chasing when officer hit, killed Leneal Frazier is charged

MINNEAPOLIS -- The man accused of leading police on a deadly chase last summer is now charged.

The charges against James Jones-Drain, 19, come more than a year after a police officer in a squad vehicle struck and killed an innocent driver.

According to the criminal complaint, Jones-Drain fled Minneapolis police in the overnight hours of July 6, 2021 after he was spotted driving a stolen SUV.

An innocent driver, Leneal Frazier, was struck at an intersection by the pursuing police officer. The complaint says the officer was traveling at nearly 80 mph when his vehicle struck the driver's side of Frazier's Jeep.

Jones-Drain faces two felony charges of vehicle theft and one felony charge of fleeing a police officer in a vehicle -- resulting in the death of a victim. If convicted, he could face up to 40 years in prison on the fleeing police charge.

Investigators looking into a string of robberies in 2021 identified Jones-Drain as the person involved in the theft of the SUV involved in the deadly chase, the complaint said. 

RELATED: Trial for former MPD Officer Brian Cummings delayed to next May

The officer who hit Frazier is also charged and no longer works for Minneapolis police. Brian Cummings faces second-degree manslaughter and criminal vehicular homicide charges in the deadly crash. He pleaded not guilty in December.

Cummings' trial was delayed until next spring.

Frazier, 40, was a father of five and the uncle of Darnella Frazier, the teenager who filmed the viral video of George Floyd's death.