State Patrol: Driver who hit mother, kids in Twin Cities intersection and fled is police chaplain

The suspected driver who hit a woman and her young children crossing an Eden Prairie street and left them injured is a chaplain with the city’s Police Department, according to court documents.

The suspect told an investigator that he was distracted by a phone text message on Aug. 21 and left the crash scene, according to a search warrant affidavit filed late Friday in Hennepin County District Court.

The warrant cleared the way for the man’s phone to be seized and its contents reviewed by the Minnesota State Patrol.

Charges have yet to be filed. The Minnesota Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are charged.

The crash near the family’s home left Somaia Kamawal, 2, fighting for her life at HCMC. A hospital spokeswoman said Saturday that the child was in critical condition.

Her mother, Spogmai Kamawal, 27, and her 11-month-old brother, Samir, were less seriously injured.

The woman was pulling her two children in a wagon; two other children — ages 3 and 4 — were walking with the family and were not hurt.

Because the suspect is a volunteer chaplain for Eden Prairie police, the State Patrol is leading the investigation.

City spokeswoman Joyce Lorenz said Friday that the chaplain “is currently not volunteering pending the outcome of the investigation.” She said he was not working as a chaplain at the time of the crash.

Court records in Minnesota show the driver’s lone traffic violation occurred in 2022 for failure to drive with due care.

According to the affidavit and police:

Kamawal was in the crosswalk while crossing Mitchell Road from west to east near Pheasant Woods Park with the four children.

Eden Prairie investigators soon learned that the chaplain was a possible suspect and turned his name over to the State Patrol. A trooper went to the supect’s home, about 3 miles north of the crash scene, and found the pickup parked outside with fresh damage to the left front side and the driver’s side mirror.

The suspect said “he was distracted by a text message on his cellphone,” according to the affidavit. “He stated that he opened his texting application, and when he looked to read the message, he heard a bump.”

The suspect said that he “never stopped to check on what he hit and that he saw his mirror was damaged. He stated that he never called 911 to report the crash or damage.”

The family’s husband and father, Naseer Kamawal, spoke a few days after the crash with words of caution to drivers and pedestrians.