Background: The scene of the crash at North Fessenden Street and North Mohawk Avenue in Portland, Oregon, on March 20, 2024 (KGW/YouTube). Inset left: Angelina Minor (Multnomah County District Attorney”s Office). Inset right: Kingston Coston (GoFundMe).
An Oregon mother will spend years inside a cell for driving drunk with a car full of kids, crashing head-on into another vehicle, and killing her 4-year-old son.
Angelina Minor, 29, was sentenced by a judge to nearly 10 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter, two counts of third-degree assault, and driving under the influence of intoxicants. Her son, 4-year-old Kingston Coston, was killed on March 20, 2024.
As the Portland Police Bureau told it, it was about 9 p.m. on that night, and Minor was driving a black 2011 Hyundai Elantra in north Portland. To her right, in the passenger seat, was a man, and in the back of the car were the man’s 4-year-old daughter, Minor’s 3-year-old daughter, and Kingston.
Minor is believed to have crashed into a red 2024 Scion XB along North Lombard Street and North Richmond Avenue in the city, but the collision apparently caused no injuries, and she kept driving. The driver of the other vehicle followed.
About a half-mile away, Minor “drove over the median divider into the oncoming lane” and “continued to drive against oncoming traffic” on North Fessenden Street in the city. Once she reached North Mohawk Avenue about a mile away, she “crashed head-on” into a silver 2022 Tesla Model S.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Kingston was “severely injured,” and though bystanders performed CPR on him and then paramedics took over his care, he was pronounced dead. Minor, her adult male passenger, her 3-year-old daughter, and the passenger’s 4-year-old daughter were all brought to an area hospital with “non-life-threatening injuries.”
The driver of the Tesla was injured but declined to get in an ambulance, authorities added. The driver of the Scion was unhurt.
Investigators determined that Minor was the one driving and that she was drunk and speeding at the time of the fatal crash. She allegedly had a blood alcohol level of 0.32% — and she was arrested and booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center.
On Jan. 5, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office announced that Minor had “violated her supervised release,” and prosecutors asked for the public’s help finding her. She would eventually be rearrested, plead guilty, and be sentenced for her crimes.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Chris Shull reflected on the case with a somber tone.
“Ms. Minor’s conduct in this case was incredibly reckless and terribly tragic,” Shull said. “It is unacceptable to drive intoxicated with children in your car in our community, and I hope that Ms. Minor’s experience will deter other people from getting behind the wheel while impaired. Ms. Minor has taken responsibility and our office feels tremendous empathy for her other children as they are separated during Ms. Minor’s incarceration.”
In a GoFundMe that was seeking help with Kingston’s funeral expenses, the fundraiser said his death left “a void that can never be filled.”
