REPORT: MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) –
The trial is underway for Abdirahman Abdi Ali, the man accused of a July 2013 hit-and-run that killed 24-year-old bicyclist Jessica Hanson.
Around 10:30 p.m. that day, Ali allegedly sped through an intersection of 28th Street and Pleasant Ave. S. in Minneapolis without his headlights on, striking Hanson, who was declared brain dead two days later.
Ali, who was driving with a revoked license, claims he was fleeing from gunfire when he drove through the intersection and didn’t realize he had hit anything until he got home. He turned himself in to authorities two days later.
But during open statements today, the prosecutor characterized the gunfire story as “a red herring in this case and a smokescreen and a distraction.”
