Search warrant sheds new details on crash that killed 5 young women in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A search warrant is shedding more details on a deadly, high-speed crash that claimed the lives of five young women in Minneapolis this past weekend.

The search warrant, submitted in the hours after the crash, seeks to take a blood sample from suspect Derrick Thompson and details the moments leading up to and after Friday's crash. Thompson is currently in Hennepin County Jail awaiting charges in the pentuple fatal crash. Thompson is the son of former Minnesota State Rep. John Thompson.

According to the warrant, troopers clocked a black Cadillac Escalade going 95 miles per hour on I-35W near 46th Street shortly after 10 p.m. – which is a 55 mph zone. As traffic camera video shows, a trooper pulled out and attempted to catch up with Cadillac, but the warrant says it quickly merged and took the exit ramp to Lake Street at a high rate of speed.

The Cadillac ultimately collided with a Honda Civic at the intersection of Lake Street and 2nd Avenue South.

The warrant states the driver was able to run from the Cadillac but Thompson found at the Taco Bell just south of the crash spot. Witnesses were also able to identify Thompson as the driver. The warrant says Thompson had suffered a head laceration and fractured hip.

Troopers say they later learned the Cadillac had just been rented by Thompson less than a half-hour earlier at the Hertz location at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Speaking in the hours after the crash, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara had said officers suspected the driver involved in the crash was impaired. The search warrant states that Thompson was talking normally but then "quickly" became sleepy, with drooping eyelids, and became uncommunicative.

Inside the Cadillac, officers found a "green leafy substance" they believed was marijuana on the front passenger floorboard.

Looking into his record, FOX 9 learned that Thompson has a history of traffic violations and was convicted of fleeing a police officer in 2017, driving after revocation in 2018, and driving after suspension twice in 2014. He was also convicted in California for injuring a woman during a hit-and-run in 2018 and received an eight-year sentence,

A video showing the fatal crash was leaked and circulated on social media. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said they are conducting an internal review, along with the Metro Transit Police Department, to try to determine the source. 

The victims - 20-year-old Sahra Gesaade, 20-year-old Salma Abdikadir, 19-year-old Segal Hersey, 19-year-old Siham Adam, and 17-year-old Sabiriin Ali - were laid to rest on Monday in Burnsville.

Thompson's previous crash arrest

Thompson was released from California state prison on Jan. 19, 2023, to parole supervision, according to the California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Under an interstate compact, which is designed to regulate the movement of probationers and parolees across state lines, Thompson would be supervised by the Minnesota Department of Corrections and California prison officials would continue to receive updates. 

After Thompson’s release, he moved back to Minnesota. Officials with Minnesota’s Department of Public Safety confirmed Thompson’s driver’s license was reinstated in March and is currently active. However, he does have a pending insurance withdrawal that begins on July 5.

Thompson had been serving an eight-year prison sentence stemming from a 2018 incident in Montecito, California, which he crashed into a pedestrian, who was vacationing in California at the time. The crash left her with a traumatic brain injury, her attorney told FOX 9.

"The victim in that case has made a recovery, but it will never be complete. There will be residual effects as a result of the criminal actions of Mr. Thompson," said Santa Barbara County District Attorney John Savrnoch, whose office prosecuted the 2018 case. 

Thompson pleaded guilty in 2020 and was sentenced to eight years in prison, though prosecutors wanted 10 years, in part because Thompson had a history of fleeing police. 

"The Santa Barbara County DA's Office takes evading and reckless driving cases (seriously). It puts the general public at risk. It puts completely innocent people at risk," Savrnoch said. 

Savrnoch said Thompson was released early from prison due to time served while awaiting trial and also his participation in California’s Conservation (Fire) Camp Program, which teaches inmates how to fight wildfires.

In total, he was incarcerated for a little more than four years.