The son of former Minnesota state Rep. John Thompson, a Black Lives Matter activist who was ousted by his own party, is reportedly the suspect in a fatal hit-and-run crash that killed five people last week, three years after he was convicted. in another tragic hit-and-run.
The suspect is Derrick John Thompson, 27, of Brooklyn Park, sources told the Minneapolis Star-Tribunethough police have not publicly named him.
Derrick is the son of John Thompson, who was expelled from the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party caucus in September 2021 after allegedly falsely accusing a police officer of racial profiling and after his previous legal troubles, including allegations of domestic assault, became public.
John Thompson, Minnesota Democrat candidate for District 67A, speaks at a protest near the home of Minneapolis police union chief Bob Kroll on August 15, 2020, in Hugo, Minnesota. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
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The elder Thompson made headlines during the George Floyd protests in 2020, when he and Black Lives Matter protesters descended on the home of police union leader Bob Kroll in Hugo, Minnesota.
Thompson was running for the state legislature at the time and went on to win his election in November after being endorsed by Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. He did not sit in the November 2022 election.
Derrick John Thompson, left, and John Thompson, right (Courtesy of the California Highway Patrol)
Minnesota State Rep. spoke. John Thompson at a Justice for Rittenhouse Victims-Abolish White Supremacy protest outside the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis on Nov. 20, 2021. (Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images)
On Friday, a speeding car ran a red light and crashed into a car carrying five Somali women, all under the age of 20, Minneapolis police said. All five victims, reportedly members of the Dar Al Farooq Islamic Center, were killed, and the suspect was treated for his injuries over the weekend, according to local media.
Now-viral surveillance footage of the crash shows the speeding SUV slamming into the driver’s side of the other vehicle. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said his department is investigating the unauthorized release of the video, the Star Tribune reported.
Derrick Thompson is awaiting charges that could be filed Tuesday, the Star Tribune reported.
Derrick has a long history of driving and drug-related offenses. In 2020, he was sentenced to eight years for a 2018 hit-and-run while fleeing police in Montecito, California. Officers found 17.6 pounds of marijuana and more than $20,000 in cash in the vehicle Derrick was driving, the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s Office said. The woman he hit spent several weeks in a coma after the crash and suffered life-changing injuries, the office said.
Derrick John Thompson was sentenced in 2020 to eight years for a 2018 hit-and-run while fleeing police in Montecito, California. (California Highway Patrol)
“This case was a series of dangerous criminal choices that resulted in a terrible conclusion,” District Attorney Joyce Dudley said at that time. “The victim made a miraculous recovery but will continue to live with the injuries inflicted by this defendant for the rest of her life.”
Derrick was sentenced to eight years in prison on Feb. 4, 2020, and he was given 502 days credit for time already served and another 75 days credit for good behavior.
It’s unclear when Derrick was released from the California state prison system or why he was out of prison at the time of Friday’s crash in Minneapolis. His parole information is not public.
After the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom began releasing thousands of violent criminals early, including those making time for murderin an attempt to reduce the spread of the virus within the prison system.
In 2016, California voted on Proposition 57, designed to give non-violent offenders the chance to be released early after earning good behavior credits. Critics, however, say violent criminals are released without explanation.
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In Minnesota, Derrick has faced dozens of arrests and been convicted at least six times. He was sentenced to one year in prison and two years of probation for carrying a firearm without a permit in 2014. The following year, he was convicted of a drug-related crime and sentenced to more than a month in prison and five year probation.
Thompson’s campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
