A rear-end crash on a south Minneapolis street late Thursday led to a fight between two men that ended with one of them dead and the other temporarily jailed.

Officers responded to a two-vehicle crash just before midnight near W. 22nd Street and Lyndale Avenue, where they were told that the driver who hit the vehicle in front of him ran away from the scene on foot and was being chased by a passenger from the car that was struck.

Shortly after, officers were called to a fight a few blocks away and found a man in "grave condition," said Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder.

Police attempted lifesaving measures until paramedics arrived and took the man to HCMC, where he died, Elder said.

The other man was arrested at the scene of the fight on the 2100 block of S. Aldrich Avenue and taken to police headquarters. That man was interviewed by members of the police department's Homicide Unit and booked into the Hennepin County jail on probable cause murder, Elder said. He was released around 11:15 a.m. pending formal charges.

The suspect has more than a dozen traffic violations but no other criminal record, according to court documents. The Star Tribune generally does not name suspects until they are charged.

Elder said the men did not know each other.

Patrol officers and homicide investigators canvassed the area and spoke with several people who may have seen or heard something. They also asked anybody with information to call 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768