Driver Charged After Striking 3-year-old, Fleeing Minneapolis Crash
BY MN CRIME STAFF
A woman has been charged with felony criminal vehicular operation after prosecutors say she struck a three-year-old girl in a Minneapolis alley and fled the scene.
According to the criminal complaint, police and rescue crews were called around 6:02 p.m. on Oct. 13 to a reported injury crash behind a residence in the 900 block of Lowry Avenue NE.
When responders arrived, they found a three-year-old girl bleeding from her face. The child’s brother told officers the two were playing in the backyard. The boy was riding his bike and his sister playing near the driveway when a driver pulled into the alley and driveway area. He said he heard his sister cry and then saw her pinned beneath the front of the vehicle, according to the court documents.
Investigators identified the driver as Dollara Muktar Mohamed, 32. The complaint says Mohamed and two other people briefly got out of the vehicle, then Mohamed got back in and drove away without calling for help.
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The child was taken by ambulance to Hennepin County Medical Center and admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit. Medical records show she suffered severe abrasions to her face, a skull fracture, a brain bleed and a traumatic brain injury.
Investigators gathered surveillance footage from nearby locations. Video from a business captured a brown Kia Sorrento turning into the alley and driving toward the child’s garage at 5:50 p.m., then leaving the alley two minutes later. A neighbor’s garage camera recorded the same vehicle driving toward the garage, followed by the sound of screaming and crying. The Kia Sorrento was then seen backing up and leaving the alley.
Additional footage from Monroe Street NE and Lowry Avenue NE shows the same brown Kia Sorrento pulling into a convenience store parking lot shortly after leaving the alley. Three young women exited the vehicle. At 6:02 p.m., the driver was seen standing outside the store and watching an ambulance pass by toward the crash scene. About one minute later, the driver left in the Kia Sorrento while the two passengers stayed behind.
In the days following the crash, an investigator went to the registered owner’s address and located the brown Kia Sorrento parked at an apartment building. The investigator noted damage to the front driver-side valance. As the vehicle was being impounded as evidence, family members told police that Mohamed had been driving the Kia Sorrento on Oct. 13. The registered owner also confirmed the vehicle was insured.
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When an investigator later spoke with Mohamed by phone, she admitted she was driving the Kia Sorrento that day but denied hitting anything. According to the complaint, when confronted with information that a three-year-old child had been run over, Mohamed disputed the child’s age and blamed supervision issues. In a recorded statement to the insurance company, Mohamed claimed she struck a large rock in the alley, got out to check her car and then saw a young child on the ground. She admitted leaving the area and dropping off her passengers at a gas station.
Mohamed was charged with criminal vehicular operation resulting in great bodily harm on Dec. 9 and a warrant was issued for her arrest. She faces a separate felony count of failing to stop after a collision involving injury. The top charge carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison, while the second charge carries a maximum of up to two years.
Booking records show Mohamed was arrested by the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 12 and remains in custody. Bail has been set at $75,000 without conditions. Her initial court appearance was set for today in Hennepin County District Court.
Court records show Mohamed has prior convictions including a gross misdemeanor theft-related offense in Dakota County in 2025, a misdemeanor DWI conviction in Ramsey County in 2024 and a petty misdemeanor conviction for driving after revocation in Washington County in 2023.
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