An 18-year-old Eden Prairie man died late Sunday night on southbound Interstate 94 in Minneapolis after getting out of his car following an initial crash, only to be struck by another vehicle moments later. Drew VonFisher was driving a 2005 Ford Focus that struck a highway attenuator near Olson Memorial Highway before he exited the vehicle and was hit by a passing Tesla.
According to Bring Me The News, VonFisher's Ford Focus struck the attenuator dividing the main freeway lane from the exit ramp toward Lyndale Avenue as he drove south on I-94 approaching Olson Memorial Highway, west of downtown Minneapolis. State crash records show the collision happened at 9:50 p.m. Sunday under dry road conditions, with the Minnesota State Patrol logging the incident under report number ICR 26509341, according to MSP Crash Updates. VonFisher's airbag deployed in the initial impact, and state records indicate he was not wearing a seat belt at the time.
After that first crash, VonFisher got out of his car and stepped into the freeway lanes, where he was struck by a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The Tesla was driven by 21-year-old Austin Muigai Muya of Champlin, according to Patch, which also identified 22-year-old passenger Samia Ali Abdirizak of Coon Rapids as riding in the car at the time. Neither Muya nor Abdirizak was injured; both were wearing seat belts, and the Tesla's airbags did not deploy. VonFisher sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators Rule Out Alcohol, Probe Remains Open
The Minnesota State Patrol said alcohol is not suspected as a contributing factor for either driver, per KROC News. Investigators are continuing to piece together why VonFisher's car first drifted into the attenuator and what visibility conditions he faced after stepping out onto the active freeway lanes at night. The State Patrol's initial incident report was completed by 6:07 a.m. Monday, though the agency's investigation remains ongoing, and Bring Me The News notes that details of the case could change as troopers gather more evidence.
Multiple emergency agencies responded to the scene, including Cardinal Towing, the Minneapolis Fire Department, Minneapolis EMS, and Hennepin County Medical Center, which operates the region's primary Level 1 trauma center, according to MN CRIME. Bring Me The News reported that its account of the crash sequence reflects law enforcement's latest version of events as of Monday morning.
A Broader Pattern of Danger on Freeway Shoulders
The crash highlights the risks drivers and stranded motorists face when a vehicle ends up stopped or disabled within active interstate lanes. Highway attenuators like the one VonFisher's car struck are engineered crash cushions designed to absorb impact energy at split points such as exit gores, preventing more severe head-on collisions with rigid barriers or overhead sign structures, according to the Federal Highway Administration. But once a vehicle is left in or near travel lanes afterward, secondary hazards escalate quickly, especially at night.
Minnesota's Ted Foss Move Over Law requires drivers on multi-lane highways to shift over a full lane or slow down when approaching stopped vehicles with hazard lights on or pedestrians near the roadway, a statute enacted after the roadside death of Cpl. Ted Foss in 2000, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Statewide, preliminary data through July showed 175 traffic fatalities across 158 fatal crashes this year, following 479 deaths recorded in 2024, per the department's tracking. In Minneapolis specifically, city Vision Zero data show that 64 percent of fatal and serious-injury crashes occur along a high-injury network that makes up just 10 percent of city streets, according to the City of Minneapolis.
The crash comes just days after Hoodline reported on a St. Paul woman killed crossing I-94 lanes in the Twin Cities metro, part of a string of pedestrian and secondary-impact fatalities that have put fresh attention on the dangers of the region's interstate corridors overnight.
