State and federal charges have been filed against a man for his alleged role in a high-speed chase and crash that killed two women and injured a 6-year-old boy Thursday morning in north Minneapolis.
Troy Mike Payton, also known as Edward Tiki Arrington, faces two counts of fleeing a police officer resulting in death and fleeing a police officer resulting in great bodily harm in Hennepin County. The more serious charges carry a maximum sentence of 40 years apiece.
Additionally, federal prosecutors have also charged the 45-year-old with carjacking and firing a gun during a crime of violence. He faces a mandatory 25-year federal sentence that could become a life term if convicted. Carjacking resulting in death is also a death penalty-eligible crime, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson.
RELATED: 2 dead, child hospitalized after car fleeing police crashes into vehicle in Minneapolis
Charging documents detail a separate crash and carjacking in south Minneapolis that set off the chain of events culminating in the deadly crash at Olson Memorial Highway and Penn Avenue.
According to a criminal complaint, Payton was driving erratically before crashing into a silver car at the intersection of Lake Street and Fourth Avenue South around 8 a.m. Payton allegedly went up to the driver of the silver car and pointed a gun at her before moving on to a second driver, who drove off. Payton then pointed the gun at a third driver in a black Volkswagen Passat and threatened her before stealing her car.
The owner of that Volkswagen told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS she was heading home from an overnight shift at the hospital when the suspect approached her. She said he opened her car door, pointed the gun at her head and ordered her to get out.
She wasn’t hurt, but she said she was “very immensely traumatized from it.”
Investigators say Payton fired gunshots at some point during the carjacking.
From there, Payton took three dogs from the car he had initially wrecked and loaded them into the Volkswagen. He pointed the gun at a fourth person before driving recklessly toward downtown and into north Minneapolis, the complaint alleges.
Police attempted to stop Payton around 8:36 a.m., activating their lights and sirens, but he didn’t stop and sped westbound onto Olson Memorial Highway. Shortly thereafter, charging documents allege Payton blew a red light at Penn Avenue and T-boned a blue Ford Focus carrying the three victims.
Two 25-year-old women, identified by the Minnesota State Patrol as Marisa Ardys Casebolt and Liberty Borg, suffered “catastrophic injuries” and were pronounced dead at the scene, the complaint states.
A 6-year-old boy was taken to the hospital with two broken legs and a traumatic brain injury. On Thursday, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the child was expected to survive.
Payton was taken to North Memorial Health Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He was booked into the Hennepin County Jail around 6 p.m. Thursday and is being held on $4 million bail.
Payton’s first court appearance is set for Monday afternoon.
The criminal complaint for the fatal crash notes that the initial events surrounding the carjacking and shots fired remain under investigation.
Payton’s criminal history includes multiple assaults with firearms, illegal gun possession, and two convictions for fleeing police in 2000 and 2006.
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