A man with a long history of getting on the road despite repeatedly losing his driving privileges has admitted that he sped through a red light at a Minnetonka intersection and caused a collision that critically injured a teenager.
Repeat unlicensed driver admits to causing collision in Minnetonka that badly injured teen
He agreed to a plea deal that spares him prison.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
December 31, 2024 at 9:39PM
Mohamed Aydarus Salad, of Minnetonka, agreed in Hennepin County District Court on Monday to plead guilty to criminal vehicular operation in connection with the crash on March 5 at Hwy. 7 and Williston Road that left 18-year-old Lauren E. Olson with serious brain damage and other serious injuries.
The plea agreement calls for a sentence of 1½ years — with two-thirds of that time spent in prison — to be set aside in favor of a year in jail. After six months, Salad, who turns 30 on Wednesday, would be eligible to serve the balance of the year under electronic home monitoring. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 29.
The state Department of Public Safety said that Salad’s license had been revoked since December 2021 for driving without insurance.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.
Olson was turning left in her Nissan Rogue from westbound Hwy. 7 to southbound Williston Road around 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.
St. Cloud and Kandiyohi County will each receive grants of more than $22 million to upgrade their wastewater treatment facilities and two greater Minnesota water systems will share a similar amount.
