Derrick Thompson charged with 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide
Activists rally to demand an end of high-speed pursuits at the State Capitol in St. Paul on June 19, days after the crash that killed five. Law enforcement officials have asserted that the State Patrol was not carrying out a high-speed pursuit at the time of the crash, though rally goers disputed this claim.
Tim Evans for MPR News
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced the driver in Friday’s crash that killed five young women in south Minneapolis has been charged with 10 felonies related to the crash.
Derrick John Thompson, 27, faces five counts of criminal vehicular homicide and five counts for leaving the scene of the crash. Thompson has other driving incidents on his record, including a 2018 crash in California that seriously injured a woman.
He was released from prison earlier this year. Thompson is the son of former state legislator John Thompson, who served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2021 to 2023, and lost re-election after several controversial events.
MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke to KARE 11’s Lou Raguse about the case.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
INTERVIEWER: One of the stories we've been following is, of course, the crash that killed five young women. And that was nearly a week ago at an intersection off of Lake Street in South Minneapolis. We now have charges in that case. Derek John Thompson is now charged with 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide.
Joining us right now is Lou Raguse. He's with KARE 11 TV. Thanks for taking the time, Lou.
LOU RAGUSE: Hey, no problem. Thank you.
INTERVIEWER: Hennepin County Attorney's Office had to have an extension to charges. We were waiting to see what was going to happen with this. We were not naming the suspect. And I'm wondering-- the latest now, we know who this is and tell us about the charges.
LOU RAGUSE: OK, so this is Derek John Thompson. He's the son of the former Minnesota State Representative John Thompson. He has a history of fleeing police in Minnesota. And he actually was convicted in California for a hit and run that permanently disabled a woman. So similar behavior to now, what he's charged with, which is criminal vehicular homicide causing the death of five young women in that horrible crash in Lake Street Friday night.
I do have an update for you that just came down. Derek Thompson is now also charged in federal court with illegal possession of fentanyl and a firearm. And I'm literally reading right off of the document right now.
It says that they found a leather bag on the passenger floor that had a loaded Glock with an extended magazine, as well as three baggies of what they call "MBox," 30 fentanyl pills, a lot of fentanyl powder, MDMA pills, cocaine, as well as a digital scale. So that's evidence of drug dealing as well. So serious charges in federal court as well as state court. And Derek Thompson will be in state court for his first appearance tomorrow.
INTERVIEWER: He's been in the hospital to this point, is that correct?
LOU RAGUSE: No. He was initially hospitalized, but he was released on Monday and booked into the Hennepin County Jail. So he hasn't had a bail hearing yet, but he's been in the jail for most of the week.
INTERVIEWER: Got it. OK. You mentioned this California incident. What do you know about that? You've done some reporting on that.
LOU RAGUSE: Yeah, so it was in Santa Barbara County in a very popular touristy family area on the beach there. An officer was trying to pull him over, and he just started to run. The chase went into this public area.
He lost control of his car and essentially slammed into a pedestrian, threw her against a wall. She was severely injured with a traumatic brain injury, as well as broken bones and internal injuries. She was in a coma for a month.
And so the Santa Barbara County district attorney took it very seriously. Did not offer a plea bargain at all. He eventually pleaded guilty to the charge that he was charged with and received an eight-year sentence, even though the prosecutor wanted more.
He ended up only serving-- this was in 2020 when he was convicted-- he only served three years of that. He got credit for almost two years worth of time that he spent in the County Jail waiting for his trial and case to proceed. But he was released just in January.
And one of the interesting twists that I have unveiled this week is that his driver's license was revoked in California, just by virtue of that conviction to that specific charge. And the way that the Minnesota laws are, if you have a revoked license in another state, you're not supposed to be able to get a Minnesota license unless you take care of whatever the requirements are in that state. So he gets released from prison in California in January 2023, just this year.
In March, he tries to apply for a driver's license in Minnesota. The database raises the flag saying that he has a revoked license in California. Something happens in the interim. And then just earlier this month, nine days before the crash, Minnesota issues him the license. We don't know what happened to make the database clear to show that there's no flag on his name preventing him from getting a license.
I talked with the Santa Barbara County district attorney about it. He doesn't understand why, because he thinks that by nature of the law his license should be revoked. But regardless, he was able to get a new driver's license this month.
And just 24 minutes before the fatal crash, he used that license to rent a car at the Hertz at the airport. Traveled up 35W, blew by a trooper going 95 miles an hour. Went right off the exit, through a red light, and into the car with those five young women.
INTERVIEWER: Lou, I appreciate your time. And thank you so very much for running all this down for us. Thank you.
LOU RAGUSE: You're welcome.
INTERVIEWER: Lou Raguse is from KARE 11 TV. In case you're just tuning in, Derek John Thompson has been charged in Hennepin County court. 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide in the deaths of those five young women, as you heard Lou describe what police say happened. He is also facing federal charges.
Joining us right now is Lou Raguse. He's with KARE 11 TV. Thanks for taking the time, Lou.
LOU RAGUSE: Hey, no problem. Thank you.
INTERVIEWER: Hennepin County Attorney's Office had to have an extension to charges. We were waiting to see what was going to happen with this. We were not naming the suspect. And I'm wondering-- the latest now, we know who this is and tell us about the charges.
LOU RAGUSE: OK, so this is Derek John Thompson. He's the son of the former Minnesota State Representative John Thompson. He has a history of fleeing police in Minnesota. And he actually was convicted in California for a hit and run that permanently disabled a woman. So similar behavior to now, what he's charged with, which is criminal vehicular homicide causing the death of five young women in that horrible crash in Lake Street Friday night.
I do have an update for you that just came down. Derek Thompson is now also charged in federal court with illegal possession of fentanyl and a firearm. And I'm literally reading right off of the document right now.
It says that they found a leather bag on the passenger floor that had a loaded Glock with an extended magazine, as well as three baggies of what they call "MBox," 30 fentanyl pills, a lot of fentanyl powder, MDMA pills, cocaine, as well as a digital scale. So that's evidence of drug dealing as well. So serious charges in federal court as well as state court. And Derek Thompson will be in state court for his first appearance tomorrow.
INTERVIEWER: He's been in the hospital to this point, is that correct?
LOU RAGUSE: No. He was initially hospitalized, but he was released on Monday and booked into the Hennepin County Jail. So he hasn't had a bail hearing yet, but he's been in the jail for most of the week.
INTERVIEWER: Got it. OK. You mentioned this California incident. What do you know about that? You've done some reporting on that.
LOU RAGUSE: Yeah, so it was in Santa Barbara County in a very popular touristy family area on the beach there. An officer was trying to pull him over, and he just started to run. The chase went into this public area.
He lost control of his car and essentially slammed into a pedestrian, threw her against a wall. She was severely injured with a traumatic brain injury, as well as broken bones and internal injuries. She was in a coma for a month.
And so the Santa Barbara County district attorney took it very seriously. Did not offer a plea bargain at all. He eventually pleaded guilty to the charge that he was charged with and received an eight-year sentence, even though the prosecutor wanted more.
He ended up only serving-- this was in 2020 when he was convicted-- he only served three years of that. He got credit for almost two years worth of time that he spent in the County Jail waiting for his trial and case to proceed. But he was released just in January.
And one of the interesting twists that I have unveiled this week is that his driver's license was revoked in California, just by virtue of that conviction to that specific charge. And the way that the Minnesota laws are, if you have a revoked license in another state, you're not supposed to be able to get a Minnesota license unless you take care of whatever the requirements are in that state. So he gets released from prison in California in January 2023, just this year.
In March, he tries to apply for a driver's license in Minnesota. The database raises the flag saying that he has a revoked license in California. Something happens in the interim. And then just earlier this month, nine days before the crash, Minnesota issues him the license. We don't know what happened to make the database clear to show that there's no flag on his name preventing him from getting a license.
I talked with the Santa Barbara County district attorney about it. He doesn't understand why, because he thinks that by nature of the law his license should be revoked. But regardless, he was able to get a new driver's license this month.
And just 24 minutes before the fatal crash, he used that license to rent a car at the Hertz at the airport. Traveled up 35W, blew by a trooper going 95 miles an hour. Went right off the exit, through a red light, and into the car with those five young women.
INTERVIEWER: Lou, I appreciate your time. And thank you so very much for running all this down for us. Thank you.
LOU RAGUSE: You're welcome.
INTERVIEWER: Lou Raguse is from KARE 11 TV. In case you're just tuning in, Derek John Thompson has been charged in Hennepin County court. 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide in the deaths of those five young women, as you heard Lou describe what police say happened. He is also facing federal charges.
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