MINNEAPOLIS—A man who served a hit-and-run sentence in a California prison until his release earlier this year remained jailed Tuesday, awaiting charges after a crash killed five young women in Minneapolis when a speeding driver blew past a state trooper, ran a red light and slammed into their car.
Derrick John Thompson, 27, of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, was evaluated at a hospital and then booked into the Hennepin County Jail on Monday in the aftermath of Friday’s crash. The victims—Salma Abdikadir, Siham Adam, Sabiriin Ali, Sahra Gesaade, and Sagal Hersi—were all between 17 and 20 years old.
Thousands of mourners from the area’s large Somali American community attended the young women’s funeral Monday at the Dar Al-Farooq mosque in Bloomington, where the five had been active members. They were returning home from a Somali mall where they had henna applied in preparation for a friend’s wedding scheduled for the next day when their car was struck….