An early morning crash on Tuesday during a chase involving the Minneapolis Police Department claimed the life of an innocent man.
The man has been identified by family members as Leneal Frazier, the uncle of Darnella Frazier, whose viral video showed Derek Chauvin pressing his knee into George Floyd's neck as he died on May 25, 2020.
In a Facebook post, Darnella Frazier wrote, "Honestly can’t believe I’m making this post right now...I’m so hurt...nothing feels real. I woke up to the most horrible news. MINNEAPOLIS police Killed my uncle. MY uncle... Another black man lost his life in the hands of the police!"
Darnella took to Facebook again on Thursday afternoon clarifying what she was saying as some began to put out "false narratives" as she said.
"I never said the police killed him on purpose," she said in her post. "I said it was the police's fault. I never said it had anything to do with race, because if this was a black cop, I'd feel the same way. I honestly don't even know the race of the cop. I just know it was a police officer behind the wheel."
She went on to talk about how she never claimed the suspect who was being chased by authorities had zero responsibility, but she did say that the police made a bad decision conducting a high speed chase in a residential area.
"That bad decision cost my uncle his life. The police car is the car that killed my uncle. Accident or not he's gone," she said. "Everyone made it alive, but my uncle. it hurts different because he had nothing to do with this. He was on his way home."
Darnella closed by sharing that she feels she has every right to fell the way she does and that if anyone was in her shoes they would be feeling the same way.
"We can never just express emotions without be criticized. The same emotions everyone else has," she said.
Darnella also shared a GoFundMe page set-up to raise money for Leneal.
According to Minneapolis police, the accident happened around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday at the intersection of 41st Avenue North and Lyndale Avenue. A Minneapolis police officer was chasing after a carjacking and robbery suspect at the time. The police cruiser struck a westbound vehicle on 41st Avenue and a northbound vehicle on Lyndale.
Leneal Frazier, who was in the westbound vehicle, was killed. The officer was treated and released while the driver of the northbound vehicle was treated at a local hospital.
The person police were chasing got away.
The Minnesota State Patrol is in charge of the investigation and it's unclear whether or not body cam or dash footage captured the crash.
