St. Paul driver was speeding, with open bottle, when he sparked fatal Minneapolis crash, charges say

A St. Paul man was allegedly speeding with a revoked license and under the influence of alcohol Wednesday when he crashed into the back of an SUV on an Interstate 94 ramp in Minneapolis, setting off a chain-reaction pileup that left a woman dead and several others injured.

Talon Covie-Cardell Walker was charged Thursday in Hennepin County District Court with criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the crash, which happened shortly after 9:15 p.m. as he exited eastbound Interstate 94 onto Lyndale Avenue and crashed into other motorists near Dunwoody Boulevard.

Killed in the crash was Natalie Gubbay, 26, of Minneapolis.

Walker and eight others, including a 2-year-old boy and a passenger in Gubbay’s vehicle, suffered injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening.

Walker’s passenger, identified as 20-year-old Taniyah Renee Randle-Smith of St. Paul, was hospitalized with a life-threatening injury at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

Walker’s license has been revoked since April 2021, according to the state Department of Public Safety. Prior to that, it had been suspended since November 2019.

Court records show Walker was convicted of careless driving in 2021, driving a motorcycle without a license in 2019 and possessing an open bottle and marijuana in a motor vehicle in 2017.

He remains jailed ahead of a court appearance Friday afternoon. An attorney is not listed in the court file.

Minnesota State Patrol troopers who arrived on the crash scene saw numerous cars with significant damage and several people with minor to severe injuries. Gubbay died at the scene.

After talking with witnesses and further investigation, troopers determined the following:

Walker, driving a 2006 Chevrolet Avalanche, was traveling down the I-94 exit toward Dunwoody Boulevard, with “traffic on the road and numerous cars traveling slowly at the time,” the criminal complaint says.

As Walker approached Dunwoody Boulevard, he sideswiped an SUV, then crashed directly into the back of Gubbay’s 2015 Jeep Cherokee SUV. “Witnesses indicated (Walker) was traveling approximately 100 mph at the time of the crash,” the complaint says.

Gubbay’s SUV was pushed into the back of a 2017 Ford Edge SUV, which was pushed into the back of a 2021 Nissan Versa SUV, which was pushed into the back of a Toyota RAV4 SUV, which then struck a 2017 Audi Q5 SUV. The force of the crash caused two of the cars to be pushed 180 degrees sideways.

Troopers found an open bottle of liquor on the driver’s side floorboard of Walker’s SUV. Results of a blood sample taken from Walker at the hospital are pending, authorities said.

In addition to his previous traffic offenses, Walker has 2021 convictions for possessing a dangerous weapon, violating a domestic abuse no-contact order (twice) and disorderly conduct.