Trejean Curry Charged In Crash That Killed 73-Year-Old Priest

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 26-year-old Minneapolis man faces criminal vehicular homicide charges in the death of a 73-year-old priest, who was killed in a crash in Rosemount last year.

Trejean Derrell Curry was charged on Thursday in Dakota County, and could face up to 10 years in prison if he is convicted.

According to the criminal complaint, Rosemount Police officers arrived at County Road 42 and Auburn Avenue in the afternoon of Oct. 25, 2021 after hearing a report of a crash involving a car and bicyclist. There, they found a non-responsive man in a ditch beside the road. The man, identified as Dennis Dempsey, was pronounced dead at the scene.

There was a sedan with a smashed windshield parked nearby, and the driver -- Curry -- said Dempsey swerved out in front of him while he was driving. He said he couldn't stop or move over because there was a car next to him and a car behind him.

A reconstruction of the scene showed the sedan and bike were both going west on the north shoulder of County Road 42. Before the point of impact, there were two tire skid marks from the sedan to the right of a solid white line and on the shoulder of the road, the complaint says. The bicycle skid mark was just to the left of the center of the shoulder.

The tire of the bicycle made impact with the middle of the front license plate, court documents say.

Curry, whose license had been revoked at the time of the crash, did not have any alcohol or controlled substances in his system. His car was determined to be traveling between 54 and 63 mph in a 55 mph zone.

Dempsey was an avid cyclist who had been a priest for 41 years, serving in Minnesota parishes and two missions to Venezuela. He spent 15 years at St. Dominic in Northfield before traveling back to South America and returning to Church of the Risen Savior, where he was a pastor for just four months.