Ta’Shawn Burks often walked to see friends and family, finding joy in those quiet, simple moments, his mother told the court Monday.
Ta’Shawn Burks, right, of St. Paul, and his mother, Tamera Burks, at his graduation from Northeast Metro 916 in 2008. (Courtesy of Tamera Burks)
Burks was doing just that on July 11, 2023, in St. Paul’s Summit-University, when, “in an instant, everything changed,” Tamera Burks, his mother, said.
As the 31-year-old was crossing Concordia Avenue at Dale Street around 9:45 p.m., Abdirahman Ali Hassan saw a yellow light, gunned his sedan and plowed into him at 77 mph. Burks, of St. Paul, died at the scene.
“Since that day, our family has been left shattered,” his mother said at Hassan’s sentencing.
Judge DeAnne Hilgers gave Hassan, 21, of St. Paul, a 364-day term in the workhouse, a sentence that’s more than double what had been agreed upon as part of an April plea agreement.
After his plea to criminal vehicular homicide, Hassan missed a date for his presentence investigation. On Aug. 14, he was cited for careless driving and speeding for allegedly going 102 mph on Interstate 35W near Lyndale Avenue in south Minneapolis.
“I do not believe you understand the ramifications of your actions, and I don’t believe you’ve come to grips with them,” Hilgers told him. “You will not receive the benefit of the plea agreement because you have twice violated that agreement.”
He’ll get credit for three days already served in custody.
Court records show Hassan was convicted of speeding a month before the fatal crash. New Brighton police clocked him driving 90 mph in a 60 mph zone on the entrance ramp to Interstate 694 from Silver Lake Road.
Hassan was ‘covered in glass and blood splatter’
St. Paul police officers were called to the St. Paul intersection on a report of a hit-and-run involving a pedestrian. They found Burks motionless on Concordia Avenue, approximately 100 feet east of Dale Street.
Witnesses told officers that a white car drove through the intersection heading east on Concordia Avenue at a high rate of speed.
One witness said they were stopped at a red light heading south on Dale Street and that Burks was walking north against the traffic light, according to the criminal complaint. Burks was halfway across Concordia Avenue when the witness heard a vehicle’s engine rev up and then saw a white sedan hit Burks, who went airborne. The driver did not stop.
Abdirahman Ali Hassan (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
While officers were securing the scene they learned the driver had stopped less than a mile away at Carroll Avenue and Arundel Street. Officers located a white Hyundai Sonata with heavy front-end damage and a damaged windshield. The driver, identified as Hassan, was in a “state of shock and had a blank stare on his face,” the complaint says, adding that he was “covered in glass and blood splatter.”
Hassan’s mother identified her son to police “since he was unable to talk at that time” and said he had called her crying and in shock and that she met him there, the complaint says. Hassan was transported to a hospital, and later declined to speak to police about the crash.
A blood draw showed that Hassan did not have alcohol or drugs in his system.
Investigators obtained a search warrant and removed the Sonata’s electronic data recorder for crash analysis. It showed Hassan’s speed continually increased after he got off I-94 and that he “unsuccessfully tried to make a green light at the intersection” and hit Burks. The complaint does not clearly state who had the right of way at the time of the crash.
The data showed the car’s speed was 62.8 mph five seconds before the crash and 77.7 mph at the time of impact. The speed limit on Concordia Avenue is 25 mph.
‘Make some serious changes’
Related Articles
St. Paul man sentenced in 2023 shootout at White Bear Lake bar
Letters: If Hamas cared about civilians at all it would release the hostages
Meet Haley Taylor Schlitz, Minnesota’s youngest assistant attorney general
Second defendant gets 12½-year sentence for role in fatal shooting of South St. Paul father during marijuana robbery
Stephen L. Carter: Presidents can’t sue their way out of criticism
Judge Hilgers gave Hassan the longest workhouse sentence she could without sending him to prison. She stayed a four-year prison term for five years of probation.
Hilgers pointed out to Hassan that he cannot have any traffic violations while on probation.
“And to make that clear, a speeding ticket could put you in prison,” she said. “So take this opportunity to make some serious changes, changes that can honor who you can be, and that will honor who Ta’Shawn was and who he could have been.”
Leave a Reply