Guilty plea from car thief in Minneapolis hit-and-run that killed man in cherished ’64 Impala

A 28-year-old man admitted that he killed another motorist in a hit-and-run collision in north Minneapolis while driving a stolen vehicle.

Presley A. Peltier, of Minneapolis, agreed Monday in Hennepin County District Court to plead guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the July 2023 crash at the corner of Washington and N. 22nd avenues. Andrew W. Hyde, 55, of Robbinsdale, who was driving his cherished 1964 Chevy Impala convertible at the time, was thrown from the vehicle and killed.

Peltier also admitted Monday to fleeing police, stemming from a separate incident in which he dragged a Minneapolis police officer who was trying to arrest him weeks later for driving with stolen license plates.

The plea agreement between the defense and prosecutors calls for Peltier to serve a 6½-year term for the fatal crash, and a concurrent 1½ years for fleeing police. With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Peltier is expected to serve slightly less than 3½ years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

Two days after the collision and close to the crash scene, a fleet of motorcycles and classic cars lined N. 21st Avenue as friends and family mourned Hyde. His wife, Kierra Holley, said that he cherished his yellow Impala convertible. “Maybe it was the drop [top]. He loved it, though,” she said.

According to police and the charges, officers arrived at the hit-and-run scene where they found Hyde. Emergency medical responders took him to North Memorial Health Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The vehicle Peltier had been driving, a stolen Hyundai, was nearby and unoccupied.

Surveillance video of the intersection showed Hyde sitting at a stop sign at 21st, then turning onto Washington, then being hit on the driver’s side “at a high rate of speed,” the criminal complaint read.

A woman in the Hyundai identified Peltier as the driver.

Officers had been on the lookout for Peltier since the crash. On Aug. 26, 2023, they were alerted to a suspicious vehicle in the 3600 block of E. 42nd Street that had someone slumped over in the driver’s seat. The officers determined that the plates on the car were stolen and told Peltier he was under arrest.

He struggled with officers, placed the car in drive and rapidly accelerated, with one officer partly trapped inside the open driver’s door, dragging him until the vehicle rammed into the pillar of a nearby structure. The officer was able to free himself, but Peltier escaped.

Three days later, officers learned that Peltier was in south Minneapolis. He drove off when officers attempted to stop him. Officers soon found the vehicle and Peltier on foot; he was arrested and taken by emergency medical responders to HCMC after he said he ingested narcotics.

Court records in Hennepin County show Peltier also has convictions for assault, burglary and theft.