A suspected drunken driver pleaded guilty Monday to causing a crash on Interstate 694 in Arden Hills last year that killed a New Brighton couple.
Charges say Luis Eduardo Tipantuna Quinchiguano’s blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit to drive in the crash that killed Curtis John O’Connor, 76, and Karin Leigh O’Connor, 74, on westbound I-694 near Snelling Avenue about 8:45 a.m. Feb. 16, 2024.
Luis Eduardo Tipantuna Quinchiguano (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Tipantuna Quinchiguano, 32, of Minneapolis, reached an agreement with Ramsey County prosecutors, admitting to two counts of criminal vehicular homicide for driving in a grossly negligent manner.
Two counts of criminal vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol will be dismissed at his sentencing, which is scheduled for Dec. 8, according to court records. Tipantuna Quinchiguano remains jailed.
According to the criminal complaint, witnesses said that Tipantuna Quinchiguano crashed his 2008 Chevrolet Equinox 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.
Troopers saw open bottles of alcohol in the Equinox and Tipantuna Quinchiguano, who would regain consciousness and quickly fall back to sleep, had bloodshot and glassy eyes and smelled of alcohol.
A preliminary breath test showed a 0.218 BAC on a “very weak puff of breath captured manually,” the complaint says. The legal limit to drive in Minnesota is 0.08.
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