UPDATE: St. Paul man charged with criminal vehicular homicide after passenger dies

On the day DeShawn Lloyd Perry Jr. turned 21, his family had to say goodbye to him.

Perry was listed in critical condition since Friday, when he was a passenger in a vehicle his friend crashed into a Green Line light-rail power pole in St. Paul. He died Monday, shortly before midnight, on his birthday.

“He was a very energetic and likable kid,” said his cousin, Danny Givens. “He would draw people in with his smile and people just wanted to be around him.”

Perry — who came from a large extended family — was a talented basketball player who loved music, dancing and “was an artist at heart,” Givens said. He went to St. Paul’s Central High School between 2012 and 2014, before moving to Iowa and attending school there.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged Kayni Lee Williams, 22, with four felony-level counts of criminal vehicular operation on Monday. With Perry’s death, prosecutors will review the case for potentially amended charges.

Williams told police he consumed “several glasses of a hard-liquor mix” before crashing into the power pole at University Avenue and Chatsworth Street about 4:45 p.m. Friday.

Williams and all four passengers in his vehicle were injured. Two have been released from the hospital. A 16-year-old girl was listed in satisfactory condition on Tuesday.

Givens, who is a pastor, said he’s praying for everyone who was involved.

“It’s a tragedy across the board,” he said. “… I hope that this becomes a place of dialogue for our communities around safe driving, wearing our seatbelts and the affects of impaired driving because it doesn’t take much.”

Williams made his first court appearance Monday, where a judge set bail at $75,000. No attorney was listed for him in a court record.

After Williams’ arrest, he told officer that that his actions caused him “to fail his friends and that he deserve(d) whatever punishment he receives,” according to the criminal complaint.

Perry’s father posted a heartbroken Facebook message to his son after his death.

“Happy 21st birthday Son…no words can describe how my heart is broken by your departure from this planet. #4/2/97-4/2/18,” he wrote.