A pizza delivery boy who said he fell asleep at the wheel before hitting and killing a pedestrian in Hopkins last year has been convicted.
According to court records, Cole Leon Venables, 28, was sentenced Thursday to one year at the Hennepin County Workhouse, with 92 days credit for time already served. He also received five years of supervised probation but was sentenced to 57 months in prison, suspended for five years.
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According to a criminal complaint, on April 16, 2021, police discovered that a woman trapped under the Dodge Charger Venables was inside. A witness told police the loader went onto the sidewalk, hit a lamp post, then ran over the victim as she walked. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
The complaint says Venables told investigators he fell asleep before loud noises woke him. He also admitted to taking prescription Suboxone earlier, three or four benzodiazepines early that morning, and Xanax at the start of his shift, adding that he purchased the pills illegally. A drug reviewer discovered that Venables was under the influence of a narcotic painkiller.
Venables also said his manager tried to fire him from work before the accident because he was “too tired”.
