$1.5M Bail For Minneapolis Woman Charged With Driving Into Crowd

Minneapolis, MN (KROC-AM News) - Bail was set at $1.5 million today for the Minneapolis woman accused of intentionally driving the vehicle into a group of people in downtown Minneapolis early Saturday.

Charges were filed today in Hennepin County Court against 22-year-old Latalia Anjolie Margalli for allegedly causing the death of a 16-year-old girl and injuring five other people. According to the criminal complaint, she was behind the wheel of an SUV that sped into a group of people following an altercation outside a business in the vicinity of the intersection of Hennepin Avenue and 5th Street shortly before 12:30 a.m. on September 14.

The court document says the charges against Margalli are based on statements obtained from numerous witnesses and victims, along with numerous surveillance videos.

The charges say the evidence indicates Margalli and her friends were involved in a verbal altercation with the teenage victim and her friends that eventually turned into a physical fight. The criminal complaint says, at some point during the altercation, Margalli was seen jumping into an SUV and driving in reverse.

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According to the court document, "she was driving in such a hurry that she knocked her passenger to the ground with the passenger door, which was still open." Margalli is then accused of putting the vehicle into drive and accelerating directly toward the 16-year-old girl, who was on the ground and fighting with another person.

The criminal complaint alleges she "drove directly into the crowd of people, without breaking, and struck numerous people," including the juvenile who was fatally injured. One of the witnesses was quoted as saying that he saw the vehicle strike the crowd and that Margalli "didn't hit her brakes or nothing." One of the people injured in the incident told police that Margalli stated, "I'm going to shoot you" before she got into her SUV.

Minneapolis police reported that Margalli then fled from the scene, but she was followed by a witness. A news release issued by the Minneapolis Police Department stated that Margalli was later stopped and apprehended in a residential area of North Minneapolis about a mile from the crime scene.

Margalli was formally charged today with second-degree murder and five counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. She is scheduled to make her first court appearance on the charges Wednesday afternoon.

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