A 24-year-old protester in Seattle died after being struck by a vehicle while protesting racial injustice and police brutality on a closed highway.
The victim, Summer Taylor, was one of two protesters to be struck by the vehicle early Saturday. The two were rushed to Harborview Medical Center where the hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg said Taylor did not survive her injuries.
According to a police report released by the Washington State Patrol, the vehicle was driven by Dawit Kelete. Kelete drove around other cars that had parked to block off the highway around 1:40 a.m. local time. Video of the incident shows Kelete’s white car rushing down the highway as protesters screamed and sprinted out of the way before the two women were hit.
ICYMI: 2 women were struck when a car sped through a protest-related freeway closure in Seattle early Saturday.
One suffered life-threatening injuries and the other serious injuries, police said. The driver of the vehicle was stopped and taken into custody pic.twitter.com/Cb4cvN7sb9
— Bloomberg QuickTake (@QuickTake) July 5, 2020
Taylor was struck, as was 32-year-old Diaz Love, who was seriously injured and remains in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center. The protest had been happening for at least two hours, and the state patrol closed the interstate for more than an hour before the incident occurred.
Kelete fled the scene after hitting Love and Taylor. According to Trooper Chase Van Cleave, one of the other protesters at the scene hopped in a vehicle and followed Kelete until the protester was able to cut him off and stop his vehicle. Kelete was booked in the King County Correctional Facility on two counts of vehicular assault.
Officers are still investigating how Kelete got onto the highway and whether it was a motivated attack. Police stated that Kelete was not intoxicated during the incident. The Washington State Patrol said it would no longer allow demonstrations on the I-5 and would arrest any protesters who tried to enter the highway.
“My hope is, as a result of this tragedy, protesters will reconsider their desire to be on the interstate because I cannot guarantee their safety, plain and simple,” said Washington State Patrol Capt. Ron Mead.
The protests in Seattle were part of a larger, nationwide protest against police brutality and racial injustice following the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died after an officer knelt on his neck for several minutes during an arrest in Minneapolis. Protesters were also nearly struck by a semi-truck on the interstate during demonstrations in Minneapolis in June. The driver claimed he did not know the road was closed.
