Law professor Rachel Moran commented for KSTP News on the second-degree manslaughter and vehicular homicide charges that were given to Minneapolis police officer Brian Cummings after he was involved in a car crash that killed a Minneapolis citizen this past summer.
From the Article: “There is certainly probably cause to move forward with the case,” said Rachel Moran, a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. “I think, on the one hand, the state seems to have a strong case in that Officer Cummings was driving at an extraordinary high rate of speed in a pursuit that probably shouldn’t have happened. On the other hand, the one complication is the Minneapolis Police Department doesn’t have a terribly clear policy about when pursuits should happen so Officer Cummings could say this is exactly what I’m supposed to do as an officer and that's something the court is going to have to sort out.”
She called the charging decision rare. It joins a growing number of cases brought against officers in recent years.
