Curt and Karin O’Connor’s two children described them in court as a humble couple who loved God, people and each other.
They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in April 2023.
Karin and Curt O’Connor (Courtesy of Katherine Isaza)
Then, on the morning of Feb. 16, 2024, the retired couple left their New Brighton home and never made it back, both killed in a chain-reaction crash on Interstate 694 in Arden Hills caused by a drunk driver. Curt O’Connor was 76 years old and Karin was 74.
Luis Tipantua, an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador who was living with his wife and children in Minneapolis, had a blood-alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit to drive. He was on a video chat call just prior to or at the time of the crash, according to court records.
Tipantua, 33, pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal vehicular homicide in September and on Monday was sentenced by Ramsey County District Judge Andrew Gordon to nearly seven years in prison: 41-month terms for each victim, to be served consecutively. The sentence fell at the low end of state sentencing guidelines, and Tipantua was given credit for 662 days already served in custody.
The prosecution asked for consecutive sentences totaling 9½ years, with Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Jessica Plotz telling the judge “they are two separate people that had full lives individually and together, and with their family and friends.”
Tipantua’s attorney, Daniel Gonnerman, said federal charges are pending for illegal entry into the United States in 2023, and that he would likely serve prison time after the state sentence. “And then, no matter who our president is, deportation is almost certain at that point,” Gonnerman said.
Katherine Isaza, the couple’s daughter, told the court in her victim impact statement that she will never know what caused Tipantua “to drink to the point of extreme intoxication” and get behind the wheel that morning.
“I do know that, because of his actions, my parents’ lives were cut short,” she said, “and the impact will be felt by me and my family for years to come.”
3-vehicle wreck
The crash happened on the westbound I-694 near Snelling Avenue about 8:45 a.m.
According to the criminal complaint, witnesses said that Tipantua crashed his 2008 Chevrolet Equinox sport-utility vehicle into the couple’s 2018 Chevrolet Malibu and pushed the sedan into the left lane in front of a semitrailer. The semi collided with the driver’s side of the Malibu, and the couple died at the scene.
Luis Tipantua (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Witnesses reported and a semitrailer video showed Tipantua driving erratically on the interstate prior to the collision, changing lanes often and without signaling and weaving in and out of traffic, the complaint said. He crossed over the fog line and briefly went off the interstate before spinning back onto the interstate and hitting the Malibu, causing it to go perpendicular in front of the westbound semi and be struck.
Troopers saw open bottles of alcohol in Tipantua’s Equinox, and the inside of the car smelled of alcohol. Tipantua, who had no passengers, was unconscious and breathing, but did not appear to be injured.
A preliminary breath test showed a 0.218 BAC on a “very weak puff of breath captured manually,” the complaint read. The legal limit to drive in Minnesota is 0.08.
A paramedic told law enforcement that Tipantua was so intoxicated that he would need to be hospitalized, the complaint said.
While still at the scene, Tipantua’s brother arrived and, through a Spanish interpreter, told law enforcement that they were on a WhatsApp video call when the crash occurred, according to a search warrant affidavit.
Gonnerman, Tipantua’s attorney, said in an interview after the sentencing hearing that the prosecution did not disclose evidence showing the video call was active at the time of the crash.
‘Had just gone out for a bit’
Jason O’Connor recalled in court Monday how he was at work when he learned of his parents’ deaths through a call by a State Patrol deputy.
“I screamed, cried. I stared into nothing, awake but trapped in a nightmare,” he said.
He said he knew he had to get home, but first came a “heartbreaking call” to his sister, who was 3,000 miles away in Colombia, where she lived and worked for Evangelical Covenant Church. “I could barely speak through the tears,” he said.
Then came the sympathy cards, flowers and funerals “to honor two beautiful people suddenly and inexplicably gone,” he said.
And then anger and “bottomless sadness,” he said, and “the denial and rationalizations: At least they were together. At least they didn’t feel any pain.”
Isaza recalled being “stunned and unable to grasp” what she heard from her brother.
“I knew mom and dad had a habit of going out for breakfast and a walk. They had to have been on their way home. A road they had driven thousands of times before,” she told the court. “How did they not make it home?”
Isaza said her father had a 30-year career as a real estate appraiser, while her mother had been a registered nurse.
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“By some miracle,” she said, she had seen her parents the month before their deaths “and got to give them each a hug and tell them I loved them.”
Her parents were healthy and active and “had plans for the future, plans to enjoy life together with their family,” she said, “and continue finding ways to serve in their church and community.”
She recalled walking into her parents’ home for the first time after their deaths. Coats were on the coat rack, shoes by the door and a newspaper open on a table.
“They had just gone out for a bit on that fateful morning,” she said, “and were planning to come back.”
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