Derrick Thompson offered plea deal in Minneapolis crash that killed 5 young women

MINNEAPOLIS — A man who is accused of killing five young women in a south Minneapolis car crash in June of last year has been offered a plea deal, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office confirmed.

Derrick Thompson, 28, was offered a plea agreement where he would plead guilty to five counts of criminal vehicular homicide while causing the accident and fleeing the scene. In return, the five other charges of criminal vehicular homicide while operating a motor vehicle in a gross or negligent manner would be dismissed.

The attorney’s office says the dropped charges are alternative charges of the same conduct, so if the case were to go to trial, Thompson would still only face sentencing on a maximum of five counts.

If Thompson accepts the plea deal, he would serve between 32 and 38 years in prison.

The offer remains open until Thompson’s next court date, which is scheduled for Nov. 4.

In December 2023, Thompson pleaded not guilty to drugs and weapons charges stemming from the crash.

Details of the crash

Sabiriin Ali, 17; Sahra Gesaade, 20; Salma Abdikadir, 20; Sagal Hersi, 19; and Siham Adam, 19, were in a vehicle going through the intersection of Lake Street and Second Avenue on June 16, 2023, when a speeding driver, later identified as Thompson, slammed into them. All five were killed.

According to a criminal complaint, shortly before the crash, a state trooper on Interstate 35W near 46th Street saw a driver in a black Cadillac Escalade speeding and “weaving in and out of traffic lanes in a reckless manner.” The trooper clocked the vehicle’s speed at 95 mph in a 55 mph zone.

Before the trooper could activate their emergency lights or sirens, the driver “abruptly cut across all four lanes of traffic,” exiting I-35W at the Lake Street exit, still allegedly speeding down the ramp.

The driver of the Escalade sped through a red light and slammed into a Honda Civic traveling through a green light, the complaint states. The cars “collided violently” causing “catastrophic damage” to both of them, per the complaint.

Officers at the scene found a Hertz rental car receipt listing Derrick Thompson as the renter outside of the Escalade. The receipt showed the vehicle was rented at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport just 24 minutes before the fatal crash.

Thompson ran away from the scene of the crash but was arrested nearby. He was hospitalized after the crash but has been discharged and taken into custody, per the complaint.

While searching Thompson’s rental car, police found a loaded semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine, more than 2,000 fentanyl pills, 13 MDMA pills and about 35 grams of cocaine, according to the complaint. Thompson also faces federal charges of possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.

Investigators said Thompson’s “driving record includes numerous charges and convictions for driving after suspension and driving after revocation,” and that his Minnesota driver’s license was revoked in 2018 and reinstated in 2023.

In September 2018, Thompson crashed his car in California, striking a woman from North Carolina who was on vacation, putting her in a coma for 20 days. She survived and partially recovered.

Inside the car, police found $20,000 in cash and more than 17 pounds of marijuana. He pleaded guilty to multiple felonies and received an eight-year prison sentence, but was released a few months before the fatal Minneapolis crash.

Thompson is the son of former state Rep. John Thompson, DFL-St. Paul.