A 6-year-old girl has died from injuries sustained when a man fleeing Brooklyn Center police at high speeds crashed into a passing car with five people in it.
Child dies after crash during Brooklyn Center police pursuit
The 6-year-old was one of five people injured Friday after colliding with a suspect being chased by police.
July 17, 2022 at 8:07PM
One of the other passengers, a 15-year-old girl, remains hospitalized, according to a statement Saturday by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office. The driver and other two passengers in that car were taken to the hospital after the Friday afternoon crash but have been released.
The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office identified the suspect Saturday as Hakeem Waheed Muhammed, 28, of Minneapolis. He was also injured and remains hospitalized. He had an active arrest warrant in connection with a murder, according to a statement released Friday by Brooklyn Center police, and was arrested at the scene.
The chase began at about 4:20 p.m. Friday when police were alerted to the man's location. They initially tried stopping the suspect's vehicle using a tire deflating device, but that failed and the suspect kept driving. Traveling at high speed, the driver ran a stop sign and collided with the other car at the intersection of 53rd and N. Humboldt avenues in Brooklyn Center.
The other car flipped upside down and emergency medical services worked to extricate passengers. The suspect's car started to smoke as he was arrested.
Lisa Clemons, founder and director of the anti-violence organization A Mother's Love Initiative, bemoaned the accident in a Facebook post Saturday.
"We lost ANOTHER child to senseless violence," wrote Clemons, a former police officer whose Minneapolis organization conducts outreach and support for families and communities affected by violence. "PLEASE no more chases in the residential areas. ... It's weighing public safety of catching a murderer to the public safety on residential streets. I'm in support of the residential streets that our kids play on."
Brooklyn Center police should not be held responsible for the accident, said Leslie Rosedahl, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association. "Instead, a violent criminal evading capture on an arrest warrant for murder, chose recklessly to take the life of another innocent victim," said a statement from the association.
The Sheriff's Office was investigating the incident.
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