The driver who hit two protesters, killing one, while they were demonstrating against racial injustice and police brutality in Seattle has been charged with vehicular homicide, assault, and reckless driving.
Dawit Kelete, who hit Summer Taylor, 24, was charged on Wednesday and is currently being held on bail set at $1.2 million, according to the King County Prosecutor’s Office. Taylor died after being struck by Kelete’s vehicle during protests in the Washington city on Saturday.
An investigation into the crash is being led by State Patrol and the FBI, with the possibility of additional charges being added as more information is uncovered.
Diaz Love, 32, survived the crash but was seriously injured and sent to intensive care following the incident. Love is recovering and wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday that she is alive and stable but is in a lot of pain. She also expressed her disbelief about Taylor’s death.
“I cannot believe Summer was murdered,” Love said. “If they thought this murder would make us back down, they were wrong. Very wrong.”
State trooper Chase Van Cleave said Kelete fled the scene after hitting the two women. Another protester at the scene hopped in a vehicle and followed him until he was able to cut Kelete off and stop his vehicle. Kelete was then booked in the King County Correctional Facility on two counts of vehicular assault.
Kelete’s lawyer, John Henry Browne, said his client is originally from Eritrea but is now a U.S. citizen. He added that the crash was not intentional and that the incident was a “horrible, horrible accident.”
“There’s absolutely nothing political about this case whatsoever,” Browne told the Associated Press. “My client is in tears. He’s very remorseful. He feels tremendous guilt.”
Protests erupted across the country after the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. Calls that began as demands for justice have escalated into broader calls to restructure police departments and reconsider symbols deemed racist or historically oppressive.
