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Opening statements got underway Thursday in Minneapolis in the trial of a man accused of killing five young women in a high-speed crash on Lake Street in 2023. Derrick Thompson, 29, is charged with 15 counts, including third-degree murder and vehicular homicide.

Investigators say that on June 16, 2023, Thompson rented a Cadillac Escalade at MSP airport. Around 10 p.m., he was allegedly speeding at more than 100 mph northbound on Interstate 35-W. 

A state trooper on routine patrol began following Thompson, but the trooper did not activate his squad car’s sirens or lights. Prosecutors contend that Thompson — the son of former DFL State Representative John Thompson — exited the freeway at Lake Street, ran a red light, and crashed the 6,000 pound vehicle into a Honda Civic. 

Sabiriin Ali, Siham Odhowa, Sagal Hersi, Salma Abdikadir, and Sahra Gesaade, all between the ages of 17 and 20, were killed instantly. The 

 were out getting henna tattoos and buying clothes in preparation for a friend’s wedding.

In his opening statement, Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Joe Paquette said that when Thompson T-boned the Civic, both vehicles flipped end over end.

“What resulted isn’t sufficiently described as a crash or a collision. It was an explosion. The Honda Civic was damaged beyond all recognition,” Paquette said. “No one from that vehicle could have survived and no one did.” 

Paquette played a video of the crash, recorded by a security camera on a building near the intersection. And he said Thompson ran from the scene.

Defense attorney Tyler Bliss countered that the state doesn’t have the evidence to prove that Thompson was driving the SUV. In his opening statement, Bliss said video shows multiple doors of the vehicle opening after the crash. He added that the DNA of several people was found inside the Cadillac.

“Understand that there are two fundamental questions here: Who is driving the vehicle, and what is his state of mind? Keep your eye on that throughout this trial,” said Bliss. “My client sits here presumed innocent.”

Thompson rejected a plea deal that would have resulted in a sentence of 32 to 39 years in prison.

In a related case, a federal jury in October 

 Thompson of firearms and drug charges for the cocaine, 2,000 fentanyl pills and gun that police found in the SUV. Sentencing in that case has been delayed pending Thompson’s state trial.

Thompson served about half of an eight-year sentence in California after pleading guilty to severely injuring a pedestrian in Montecito in late 2018. The victim in that incident required six surgeries and had to be put into an induced coma. Investigators similarly found large quantities of drugs in Thompson’s crashed vehicle.

Matt Sepic

Author

Opening statements began Thursday in Minneapolis in the trial of Derrick Thompson, a man accused of killing five young women in a high-speed crash in 2023.

MPR News correspondent Matt Sepic talks about the Thompson trial

man with long hair and suit sits at defense table

Crash that killed 5 ‘was an explosion’ says prosecutor as Thompson trial begins

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