On or about July 3, 2025, at approximately 6:57 P.M., police officers were dispatched upon the report of a traffic accident involving injuries to the intersection of Stinson Boulevard Northeast and Hennepin Avenue East in the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. When officers arrived, they observed three vehicles with severe damage that caused several windows to shatter and airbags to deploy. The officers called an ambulance to treat an occupant of one vehicle who was experiencing shortness of breath and for her visibly distraught daughter who had been seated in a child-seat in the back of the vehicle at the time they were struck from behind.
After speaking with several witnesses, officers learned that a rapidly moving Chevrolet Impala (MN FLP435) struck the vehicle containing the mother and daughter as they waited for a light with such velocity that the impact pushed the stopped vehicle through the intersection where it collided with a third vehicle that was waiting for the same light but traveling in the opposite direction. Witnesses also told the officers that the driver of the Chevrolet fled from the scene immediately after the crash.
Officers obtained a description of the driver and began to search the area for him. Simultaneously, other officers recovered several documents inside the Chevrolet bearing the name Brandon Fredrick GOLDEN [DOB REDACTED], Defendant hereinafter, and learned that Defendant was also the registered owner of the vehicle. Officers at the scene obtained a photograph of Defendant from a Driver and Vehicle Services database, and several witnesses identified Defendant as the driver of the Chevrolet who caused the accident and fled the scene.
Officers found Defendant several blocks away, laying face down in a yard and in need of medical care. Before being transported to the hospital, Defendant told emergency medical personnel that he had been in a car accident and had been drinking heavily prior to the crash. Additionally, officers helping Defendant into the ambulance noticed he smelled of alcohol, slurred his speech, and had difficulty standing on his own. Officers obtained a warrant to search Defendant's blood or urine for the presence of alcohol, and at 10:13 P.M. He voluntarily consented to a blood draw.
The sample of Defendant's blood was sent to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension who determined that at the time of the blood draw Defendant's blood alcohol concentration was 0.22.
