A man from Minnesota is facing nearly 60 years in prison after crashing his Cadillac Escalade into a car carrying five young women, resulting in their deaths.

On Thursday, Judge Carolina Lamas from the Fourth Judicial District handed down a sentence of more than 58 years to 29-year-old Derrick Thompson. This followed the tragic loss of five women: Salma Mohamed Abdikadir, Sahra Liban Gesaade, Sagal Burhaan Hersi, Siham Adan Odhowa, and Sabiriin Mohamoud Ali, as reported by the Hennepin Attorney’s Office in a press release. The victims ranged in age from 17 to 20 years old.

Last month, Thompson was found guilty of five counts of third-degree murder and ten counts of vehicular homicide due to the deadly crash that occurred in 2023. After renting a Cadillac Escalade in the Minneapolis area, he immediately began speeding, reaching speeds over 110 mph while dangerously weaving through traffic. Despite police attempts to stop him, he continued to drive recklessly and, after leaving the highway, sped through a red light, colliding with a Honda Civic and fatally injuring the young women inside.

Family members spoke emotionally on Thursday about the loved ones they lost and the impact their deaths have had on them and the community.

“I hope reality suffocates you for the rest of your life,” Siham Odhowa’s sister, Sundus, said, according to a courtroom report from the Minnesota Star Tribune. “You should never know freedom again. You should never know peace.”

Both family members and prosecutors noted that until recently, Thompson never admitted to being behind the wheel. In fact, at trial, Thompson’s defense lawyers argued their client’s brother, Damarco Thompson, was driving the Escalade, as his car keys and hat were inside.

“For over two years, he refused to take responsibility for what he did, sitting there with that smug look on his face,” said Ali’s sister Sundus, per the Star Tribune.

Prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum that while Derrick Thompson admitted to being behind the wheel, he “continues to minimize the choices he made leading up to the collision.”

“He repeatedly refers to it as a mere ‘accident,’ denies that he was driving evasively, denies attempting to elude law enforcement, and makes it seem like it was just bad luck that caused the collision,” the memo stated. “He suggests an implausible reason — fear for his life — why he could not check on the victims or render aid.”

For his part, Thompson apologized for his actions at sentencing and said he wished he had died in the accident instead of the victims.

“I have been punished by God,” he said, according to local ABC affiliate KSTP. “I have been stripped of everything but my skin.”

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said Thursday was about honoring the victims and delivering justice.

“Five women were taken from their loved ones because of Mr. Thompson’s choices that night,” she said. “He is being held accountable, and the length of this sentence ensures he cannot cause this type of damage to our community again. This was as preventable as it was inexcusable. Vehicles can easily become weapons when drivers make poor choices. Anyone who drives on our streets must remember their responsibility for safety in our neighborhoods.”

Inset: Derrick Thompson (Hennepin County Jail). Background: Scene of the June 2023 crash that killed five young women in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (KARE/YouTube)

As Law&Crime previously reported, a probable cause arrest affidavit said a Minnesota State Police trooper just after 10 p.m. on June 16, 2023, saw the Escalade flying down I-35W at 95 mph in a 55 mph zone and cutting across four lanes of traffic.

Thompson allegedly took an exit ramp, ran a red light and T-boned the Civic traveling through the intersection. Cops say the Civic ended up pinned against the wall of the I-35W bridge. A trooper, who never had a chance to activate his cruiser lights, observed the crash from about 800 feet away.

“The trooper immediately went to the black Honda Civic. The trooper observed that the black Honda Civic had extensive damage and all five victims in the Honda Civic had no signs of life and were deceased,” the affidavit said.

Thompson limped away from the crash scene and sat down in a nearby Taco Bell parking lot. Cops tracked him and found him suffering from a gash on his forehead. He claimed the head wound was “an old cut” and said he “fell” earlier in the night. Witnesses, however, identified him as the driver.

Cops say Thompson had THC in his system. He also had a Glock with an extended magazine, 2,000 pills of suspected fentanyl, 13 pills of suspected MDMA and 35.6 grams of cocaine in the Escalade.

Per the affidavit, Thompson admitted to being the driver of the SUV during the crash in a phone call he made while in custody, claiming he was trying to avoid another vehicle “on his bumper” at the time of the crash. Video from the incident showed there was no car behind him.

Thompson was released from prison in California about six months before the crash, where he was serving time for another motor vehicle arrest. In that incident, Thompson was fleeing from cops in a rented vehicle when he crashed into a pedestrian, pinning her against a concrete retaining wall. The pedestrian was “severely injured and hospitalized.” A search of the rental turned up 18 pounds of marijuana and about $20,000 in cash.

At the Minnesota trial, prosecutors reportedly issued a surprise subpoena compelling Demarco Thompson to testify. On the stand, he told jurors he was not in the Escalade with his brother, but rather had driven him to the rental car facility so the defendant could pick up the vehicle and followed behind him in his Dodge Challenger until he started speeding away, according to a report from the Sahan Journal.

Damarco Thompson’s testimony was key to his brother’s conviction, juror Lucas Sundelius told local NBC affiliate KARE after the verdict.

“A lot of the questions [he answered] helped clear up the fact that they had multiple sets of keys for the Challenger,” Sundelius said. “Having him testify was extremely helpful.”

Another key aspect of the testimony was seeing the height difference between the brothers, according to Sundelius. The defendant was significantly taller than his brother and jurors noted the driver’s seat in the Escalade was pulled back.

“When we saw that we were like ‘OK we think it’s him rather than his brother,'” Sundelius told the TV station.

The Thompsons are the sons of former state Rep. John Thompson, a Democrat, who served in the legislature from 2021 to 2023. He was expelled from his caucus in September 2021 after reports surfaced that he was violent toward women, the Pioneer Press reported. He was defeated by a fellow Democrat in the 2022 primary election.