Judge spares prison for man who repeatedly drove without license and critically injured Minnetonka teen

A man with a long history of getting on the road despite repeatedly losing his driving privileges was spared from prison Wednesday afternoon for speeding through a red light at a Minnetonka intersection and causing a collision that critically injured a teenager.

Mohamed Aydarus Salad, 30, of Minnetonka, was sentenced in Hennepin County District Court after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular operation in connection with the crash on March 5, 2024, at Hwy. 7 and Williston Road that left 18-year-old Lauren E. Olson with brain damage and other serious injuries.

As spelled out in the plea agreement between the prosecution and the defense, Judge Amber Brennan set aside an 18-month sentence and opted for a year in the workhouse. With credit for the six months in jail since his arrest, Salad has about six months left to serve and is eligible to complete that time on electronic home monitoring. Brennan also put him on probation for three years.

The state Department of Public Safety said Salad’s license had been revoked since December 2021 for driving without insurance.

Court records showed he has convictions for careless driving and inattentive driving. He has also been cited nine times for driving while his license was either suspended or revoked, the records revealed.

Olson, who graduated from Hopkins High School about three months after the crash, was less than two blocks from home when the collision occurred.

She spent the first week after the crash in a coma and 1½ months in the hospital before her discharge.

According to the criminal complaint:

Olson was turning left in her Nissan Rogue from westbound Hwy. 7 to southbound Williston Road at about 2:20 p.m., when Salad sped on the shoulder past stopped vehicles on eastbound Hwy. 7 and hit the teenager’s SUV broadside. The impact was captured on traffic camera video.

Computer data from Salad’s SUV revealed he was driving 96 miles per hour five seconds before the crash, 86 mph about a half-second before the collision and 68 to 74 mph at impact. The speed limit on Hwy. 7 is 55 mph.

Traffic video captured Salad speeding through other intersections on the shoulder in the moments leading up to the crash.