Derrick Thompson: sins of the brother
The trial continues this week in Hennepin County Court for Derrick John Thompson, now age 29. He’s accused in fifteen felony counts arising from the horrific June 2023 car crash that took the lives of five young women off Lake Street in south Minneapolis on a Friday night.
Thompson was convicted in late 2024 in federal court on related drug and gun charges arising from the same incident. In that trial, Derrick’s attorneys attempted (but failed) to shift the blame to his older brother, Damarco John Thompson, now age 32.
The original investigation uncovered the following:
As for the passenger in the Cadillac Escalade that fateful night:
The Sahan Journal reported last month:
Derrick Thompson’s brother, Damarco Thompson, was also in the car with him the night of the 2023 crash. Thompson’s defense attorneys said at his federal trial that efforts to locate Damarco Thompson had been unsuccessful. Damarco Thompson has not been charged in the case.
It turns out that the St. Paul police had much better luck tracking down Damarco. They executed a warrant back in March on a St. Paul apartment, and found three people, including Damarco. They also found a gun and a lot of drugs. Damarco was arrested, but he later posted a $250,000 bond.
From that raid, Damarco is charged with three gun and drug-related felonies. He’s due in court in St. Paul on Wednesday morning, while his brother will be on trial across the river.
Coincidentally, court records for both Derrick and Damarco list their home address as the same address in Brooklyn Park.
Damarco has felony convictions dating back to 2019, all related to drugs, guns, or both. I first wrote about Damarco last year.
Back in 2018, Damarco was the victim of a shooting on the streets of St. Paul. WCCO-TV reported at the time:
Services for a young member of Above Every Name church were just getting started around 1 p.m. on Monday when violence erupted.
A mourner identified as Damarco John Thompson was walking across the street near an alley in the 700 block of Portland Avenue when numerous shots rang out.
At the time, WCCO described the young man as follows:
Thompson is the son of St. Paul activist John Thompson, who was a close friend of Philando Castille and became involved in the Black Lives Matter movement.
The elder Thompson would go on to serve a single term as a member of the state House of Representatives, representing St. Paul. In his bio, Rep. Thomson listed five children, three sons and two daughters.
Two years after the shooting (Sept. 2020), Damarco was arrested on a felony gun charge, Alpha News reported. That case resulted in a gross misdemeanor conviction after a plea agreement.
In an unrelated case, Demarco was sentenced in June 2021 to two years in prison (downward departure, of course) after pleading guilty to a felony drug charge. While serving that sentence, he was convicted of a gun felony with a sentence to be served concurrently.
It’s possible that Demarco had only been out of prison for a few weeks when the car crash occurred.