Unlicensed driver charged with going 100 mph when he set off deadly 7-vehicle crash in Minneapolis

An unlicensed driver is now charged on accusations that he was speeding and under the influence of alcohol when he set off a chain-reaction pileup on an interstate exit ramp in Minneapolis, leaving one person dead and several others injured.

Talon Walker, 29, of St. Paul, was charged late Thursday afternoon in Hennepin County District Court with criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the seven-vehicle pileup about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday after exiting from eastbound Interstate 94 toward Lyndale Avenue.

Walker remains held without bail ahead of a court appearance Friday afternoon. Court records do not list an attorney for him.

A search warrant affidavit was filed in court by the State Patrol that cleared the way for Walker’s blood to be collected to measure his degree of intoxication. Results are pending. The affidavit said Walker was “pushing 100 mph when taking the ramp, [and] it appears no braking took place before the crash.”

Walker was driving without a valid license, according to the state Department of Public Safety. In late 2019, his license was suspended, then it was revoked in spring 2021, the agency said.

Court records in Minnesota show Walker has traffic convictions for careless driving and operating a motorcycle without a license. State records also show convictions for illegal weapons possession, disorderly conduct, a minor drug offense and two for violating a court no-contact order.

Walker’s passenger, 20-year-old Taniyah Randle-Smith, was taken by ambulance to HCMC with life-threatening injuries, according to the patrol. A hospital spokeswoman said Thursday afternoon that she was in critical condition.

Killed in the crash was Natalie Gubbay, a 26-year-old SUV driver from Minneapolis, whose vehicle was struck by Walker’s. Her passenger, Molly Elizabeth Brenton, 28, of Virginia, Minn., was taken to HCMC with noncritical injuries.

Walker’s full-size SUV sideswiped a vehicle, then struck Gubbay’s SUV. Witnesses said Walker “was traveling approximately 100 miles per hour at the time of the crash,” the complaint read. Troopers found a partly full liquor bottle on the driver’s side floorboard, the complaint continued.

The chain-reaction crash continued with four more vehicles getting hit from behind. A GMC Yukon driven by Abass Boke, 38, of Anoka, had five passengers, four of whom along with Boke suffered noncritical injuries.

Three other drivers survived their injuries, the patrol said. They were Luis Withrow, 22, of Minneapolis; Susan Clingman, 62, of Minneapolis; and Michael Henning, 62, of Burnsville.