Unlicensed driver charged with striking, killing bicyclist in Rosemount

A man who has been continually caught driving without a license was jailed Tuesday after being charged with straying onto the shoulder of a south metro road and fatally hitting a bicyclist.

Trejean D. Curry, 26, of Minneapolis, was charged in Dakota County District Court last week with criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the Oct. 25 collision in Rosemount that killed the Rev. Dennis Dempsey, who came to the Risen Savior Roman Catholic Church in Burnsville just three months earlier.

Dempsey, 73, was struck from behind while both he and Curry were heading west on County Road 42 near W. 145th Street. Dempsey died at the scene.

Curry was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday. Court records do not list an attorney for him.

"From a review of his driving record, it appears that he has never had a driver's license in MN, but yet has multiple driving offenses on his driving record," reads a court filing from law enforcement requesting that bail be set at $75,000.

In the past six years, the filing continued, Curry has had nine convictions for operating a vehicle while his driving privileges were revoked, five for lack of insurance, two for speeding, and one each for an instructional permit violation and passing another vehicle in a prohibited area.

He also has a speeding case pending in Dakota County from May 2021, when he was cited for driving 81 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone, again with no driver's license and no insurance. The citation noted that a woman and three small children were passengers.

The criminal vehicular homicide case against Curry accuses him of operating the car in a grossly negligent manner on that fall afternoon, specifically that he was driving on the shoulder and that a forensic analysis of his cellphone by law enforcement revealed that the screen was illuminated while a music app was in use, the complaint read.

Marianne Brass, Risen Savior parish communications director, said Dempsey often rode his bike to the church from the rectory, about a mile away in Apple Valley.

Dempsey came to Risen Savior in July 2021 after doing missionary work in Venezuela for two years. Before that, the Minneapolis native was at the Church of St. Dominic in Northfield for 15 years after a seven-year missionary stint in Venezuela.

According to the complaint:

Curry told police at the crash scene that the bicyclist swerved in front of him as he drove on the road. He also said other vehicles close by prevented him from avoiding a collision.

A State Patrol analysis of the crash revealed that Curry's car left two "virtually straight ahead" skid marks on the shoulder just before the bicycle "made impact with the middle of [Curry's] front license plate."

Curry's speed leading up to the collision was 54 to 63 mph in a 55 mph zone, the patrol determined. A law enforcement test of his blood revealed no impairment from drugs or alcohol.