6½-year sentence for Twin Cities hit-and-run that killed man driving his cherished classic car

A man received a 6½-year prison term Monday for killing another motorist in a hit-and-run collision in north Minneapolis while driving a stolen vehicle.

Presley A. Peltier, 28, of Minneapolis was sentenced in Hennepin County District Court after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the July 2023 crash at the corner of Washington and N. 22nd avenues.

Andrew W. Hyde, 55, of Robbinsdale, who was driving his cherished 1964 Chevy Impala convertible at the time, was thrown from the vehicle and killed.

Peltier also was given a concurrent 17-month sentence Monday for fleeing police, stemming from a separate incident in August 2023, when he dragged a Minneapolis police officer who was trying to arrest him weeks later for driving with stolen license plates.

With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Peltier is expected to serve slightly less than 3½ years in prison and the balance on supervised release. Judge Juan Hoyos also ordered Peltier to pay more than $46,000 in restitution.

“Andrew Hyde was enjoying driving his prized 1964 Chevrolet Impala convertible on a sunny July day when he was killed by Mr. Peltier in another tragic instance of reckless driving,” County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement. “In both of these incidents, Mr. Peltier showed blatant disregard for the safety of those around him and he is being held accountable.”

Peltier did not have a license to drive in Minnesota at the time of the crash, the state Department of Public Safety said.

According to police and the charges:

Officers arrived at the hit-and-run scene where they found Hyde. Emergency medical responders took him to Robbinsdale’s North Memorial Health Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The vehicle Peltier had been driving, a stolen Hyundai, was nearby and unoccupied.

Surveillance video of the intersection showed Hyde sitting at a stop sign at 21st, then turning onto Washington and being hit on the driver’s side “at a high rate of speed,” the criminal complaint read.

A woman in the Hyundai identified Peltier as the driver.

Officers had been on the lookout for Peltier since the crash. On Aug. 26, 2023, they were alerted to a suspicious vehicle in the 3600 block of E. 42nd Street that had someone slumped over in the driver’s seat. The officers determined the plates on the car were stolen and told Peltier he was under arrest.

He struggled with officers, placed the car in drive and rapidly accelerated, with one officer partly trapped inside the open driver’s door, dragging him until the vehicle struck a pillar of a nearby structure. The officer freed himself, but Peltier escaped.

Three days later, officers learned that Peltier was in south Minneapolis. He drove off when officers attempted to stop him. Officers soon found the vehicle and spotted Peltier on foot. He was arrested and taken by emergency medical responders to HCMC after he said he ingested narcotics.

Court records in Hennepin County show Peltier also has convictions for assault, burglary and theft.