The son of former Minnesota state Rep. John Thompson, an activist associated with the Black Lives Matter movement and later expelled by his party, found himself in legal trouble once again. Derrick John Thompson, aged 27 and a resident of Brooklyn Park, was apprehended on Monday following a hit-and-run incident that resulted in the tragic deaths of five individuals. Notably, this incident occurred three years after Derrick’s conviction in a separate hit-and-run case.
Local reports confirm that Derrick was charged with two counts of murder and subsequently taken into custody, being booked at the Hennepin County Jail. His father, John Thompson, faced expulsion from the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party caucus due to allegations of falsely accusing a police officer of racial profiling and the emergence of past legal issues, including domestic assault charges.
During the 2020 George Floyd protests, John Thompson, who was running for the state legislature at the time, gained attention for joining Black Lives Matter demonstrators in their protest outside the residence of police union leader Bob Kroll in Hugo, Minnesota. Despite the controversies surrounding him, Thompson secured victory in the November 2020 election after receiving endorsements from notable figures such as Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. However, he was subsequently unseated in the November 2022 election.
The fatal hit-and-run incident occurred when a speeding vehicle ran a red light, colliding with a car carrying five young Somali women, all under 20 years of age and reportedly associated with the Dar Al Farooq Islamic Center. Tragically, all five victims lost their lives, while the suspect involved in the collision received medical treatment for his injuries throughout the weekend following the incident.
Surveillance footage capturing the crash went viral, depicting the SUV recklessly striking the other vehicle on its driver’s side. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara revealed that an unauthorized release of the video is under investigation by the police department.
As of now, Derrick Thompson awaits potential charges that may be filed as early as Tuesday, according to reports. His past is marred by multiple driving and drug-related offenses. In 2020, he received an eight-year sentence for a hit-and-run incident that occurred in 2018 while he was attempting to evade the police in Montecito, California. Upon inspecting the vehicle driven by Derrick during the incident, law enforcement discovered 17.6 pounds of marijuana and over $20,000 in cash. The victim of the crash spent several weeks in a coma and sustained life-altering injuries.
At the time, District Attorney Joyce Dudley described the case as a sequence of dangerous criminal choices leading to a devastating outcome. Derrick was sentenced to eight years in prison on February 4, 2020, with credit given for time already served and good behavior.
Details regarding Derrick’s release from the California state prison system and his presence outside of prison during the Minneapolis crash remain unclear. His parole information is not publicly available. The Santa Barbara District Attorney’s Office, addressing the tragic incident, expressed sympathy for the families affected by the loss of the five young women.
It is worth noting that Derrick Thompson’s release in California potentially benefited from Proposition 57, a 2016 measure aimed at granting early release to nonviolent offenders who earned good behavior credits. Critics argue that the proposition has resulted in the early release of violent criminals without satisfactory justification. Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom authorized the early release of numerous violent offenders, including those convicted of murder, in an effort to mitigate the spread of the virus within the prison system.
In Minnesota, Derrick has accumulated numerous arrests and faced at least six convictions. Among them, he served a year in prison and received two years of probation for carrying a firearm without a permit in 2014. The following year, he was convicted of a drug-related felony, leading to a prison sentence of over a month and five years of probation.
As of now, no response has been received from Thompson’s campaign regarding these recent developments.