Minneapolis Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Fatal High-Speed Crash

Oct 3

*The scene of the Oct. 23, 2024 crash via* ***MnDOT Traffic Management Camera.***

A 29-year-old man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for a high-speed crash that killed one person near downtown Minneapolis last fall.

On Oct. 23, 2024, around 9:15 p.m., Minnesota State Patrol troopers were called to a chain-reaction crash on the eastbound I-94 exit ramp at Lyndale Avenue.

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Investigators say Talon Covie-Cardrell Walker was driving a Chevy Avalanche about 100 miles per hour when he sideswiped one vehicle and then slammed into the back of a Jeep Cherokee, pushing it into several others in a line of traffic.

PREVIOUSLY: Speeding Driver With Open Bottle Caused Fatal Crash

One passenger in Walker’s vehicle told investigators she met him days earlier and that they had been smoking marijuana together. She said Walker appeared “zoned out” before the crash and drove erratically, ignoring her screams to slow down. She suffered severe injuries, including fractures to both femurs, a dislocated hip, and additional leg and foot injuries. Doctors expect long-term disabilities. She was also pregnant at the time and hospitalized for more than three weeks.

The driver of the Jeep, 26-year-old Natalie Gubbay, died at the scene, and multiple people in the other vehicles were hospitalized with injuries ranging from brain bleeds to abrasions. Troopers found an open, partially full liquor bottle on the driver’s side floor of Walker’s truck. A blood draw was taken at the hospital which showed an alcohol concentration of .093, along with marijuana and fentanyl in his system. Walker’s criminal history showed a prior license revocation in 2021 for driving under the influence.

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Walker was charged with multiple counts of criminal vehicular homicide and operation. At trial, many of those counts were dismissed, but he was convicted of three felonies including criminal vehicular homicide while driving with an alcohol concentration of .08 or more, criminal vehicular operation causing great bodily harm with .08 or more, and criminal vehicular operation causing substantial bodily harm with .08 or more.

On Oct. 2, 2025, a judge sentenced Walker to 10 years in prison for the homicide conviction, an upward durational departure from state guidelines. He was also sentenced to 23 months for the great bodily harm conviction and 15 months for the substantial bodily harm conviction. Those sentences will run concurrently with the 10-year term.

Court records show Walker received credit for 344 days already spent in custody. He must also submit a DNA sample, remain law-abiding, and is barred from possessing firearms or ammunition. Restitution was reserved pending further review.

If Walker serves the full term, he will spend two-thirds of the sentence in prison and the remaining third on supervised release. He is currently in the custody of the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

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