Today’s word: Responsible
By Crime Watch MN, Nov. 16, 2022
A young man is dead and at least seven Minnesota judges bear responsibility.
Abdel Jabar Ahmed Sharif, 25, of Eden Prairie has been charged with five felonies related to a stolen vehicle crash that resulted in the death of one person near the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 8, 2022.
By any measure, Sharif should have been in prison at the time of the crash, but he wasn’t, because Minnesota Courts sympathize with criminals instead of meting out justice in a manner that should prioritize public safety and reduce future victims, as we have repeatedly documented.
Sharif has at least twenty-six prior convictions since 2016. Eight of those convictions are for felonies racked up in four counties since 2018 that include six for theft, one for receiving stolen property, and one for third-degree burglary. In one of the theft cases, Sharif was offered a plea deal dismissing violent crime charges of first-degree aggravated robbery and simple robbery. Charges in that case say Sharif stole a victim’s phone during a sale meet-up in Savage, Minn., then got into a vehicle and fled. The victim tried to grab onto the vehicle and was dragged for a distance letting go when one of the occupants flashed a knife.
Sharif was convicted on his eighth felony as recently as June 17, 2022, on a charge of theft in Anoka County Court. Despite Sharif’s numerous prior felony and other convictions, Judge Dyanna L. Street granted a stay on the 19-month prison sentence. Sharif was instead given credit for time already spent in jail and was placed on probation for a term of three years.
Sharif was in court again on Sept. 27, 2022, during which he was found to have violated probation for the second time in six months on a prior conviction on felony theft for which he had originally received a stay-of-imposition. Despite having been charged with new crimes, and having multiple failures to appear in court, Sharif’s probation was not revoked, but was instead continued by Dakota County Judge Richelle M. Wahi.
Prosecutors in the counties of Anoka, Hennepin, Dakota and Scott are not blameless in this travesty, as several of them orchestrated plea deals for the stayed felony sentences or for reduced time in several other cases.
NEW CHARGES
Charges in the Bloomington crash say Sharif was driving a stolen vehicle onto Mall of America property last Tuesday when one of the mall’s automatic license plate readers (ALPR) picked up the plate and sent out an alert to nearby squads just before 4 p.m.
Bloomington police then communicated with mall security to attempt to locate the vehicle on cameras. Bloomington officers arrived and located the vehicle and attempted a felony stop. The vehicle fled and subsequently crashed into a concrete pillar on the entrance ramp to eastbound I-494. Bloomington police said they had not been chasing the vehicle at the time of the crash.
Two occupants exited the vehicle after the crash, and one remained inside with life-threatening injuries and was pronounced deceased on site. Abdikadir M. Issack, 23, of Willmar, was later identified as the party who died in a crash. It was determined the vehicle had been previously stolen out of Minneapolis.
Sharif was transported to a hospital following the crash at which time 92 pills that field-tested positive for over 10 grams of suspected fentanyl were found in a container on his person.
Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges provided a video update the day after the crash during which he explained the police department’s pursuit policy and explained that officers did not have time to engage in a pursuit or PIT maneuver prior to the suspect vehicle crashing.
Sharif has been charged with felony counts of criminal vehicular homicide, fleeing police in a vehicle that results in death, third-degree narcotics, receiving stolen property, and fleeing police.
Sharif remains in custody in Hennepin County Jail as of this report on $750,000 bail or $300,000 with conditions.
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