MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A Minneapolis Police investigator spent hours on the stand Tuesday, presenting various videos to prove Derrick Thompson was the one driving the Cadillac Escalade that slammed into a Honda Accord and killed all five women inside.
Sgt. David Ligneel showed videos from the rental car ramp at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, showing Thompson and his brother arriving in a car and both walking inside.
When they leave, cameras show Derrick driving the Escalade, no one in the passenger seat, then his brother exiting right behind him driving the car.
Another video, zooming in on the aftermath of the crash scene, shows no one exiting the passenger side of the Escalade. An eyewitness testified she saw Derrick emerge from the driver’s door.
A nurse who treated Thompson for a broken pelvis in the days after the crash testified that Derrick never mentioned anything about being a passenger in the SUV or that anyone else was even in the vehicle. Her impression from things he said is that he was driving.
Siblings testify
What we know:
Thompson is charged with 15 counts, three each for the five young women who died when Thompson’s rented SUV slammed into them at a Lake Street intersection. The Escalade had just exited the freeway, where it was clocked at 95 miles an hour, and blew threw the red light at Lake Street.
Siblings of two of the women testified on Tuesday, adding emotion to what is otherwise a very clinical, video and science heavy trial.
"She brought a light to every room she walked in, she was always happy, always kind to everyone around her," said Sundus Odhowa, sister of Siham Odhowa. "And she was taken away from us way too soon."
One small DNA match to brother
The other side:
A BCA forensic scientist testified about DNA evidence from the Escalade. On the driver’s door was a blood sample that heavily matched Derrick, but it also came back with a slight match to Thompson’s brother.
This is key for the defense, who raise the possibility that Thompson’s brother may have been the actual driver.
But the scientist testified that the likelihood ratio of a match to Derrick was in the billions. The likelihood of a match to his brother was in the thousands.
But, she conceded, his brother could not be excluded as a possible contributor to that DNA mixture.
The end in sight
What's next:
The trial is expected to last a few more days, but wrap up yet this week. The prosecution has a handful of witnesses on their list they’ve not called yet. The defense declined to say how many witnesses they plan to call.