A car drove to a closed highway early Saturday morning and struck two people in a crowd protesting against police brutality, killing one and seriously injuring the other, authorities said.
Summer Taylor, 24, of Seattle, died at night at Harborview Medical Center, spokeswoman Susan Gregg said.
Taylor and Diaz Love, 32, of Portland, Oregon, were hit by the car that passed through a crowd of terrified protesters on Interstate 5 early Saturday morning, authorities said.
Dawit Kelete of Seattle drove the car around vehicles blocking I-5 and accelerated into the crowd around 1:40 am, according to a police report released by the Washington State Patrol. Video taken on the scene by protesters showed people yelling “Car! Car!” before running away from the road.
KIRO-TV, a CBS Seattle affiliate, reported that Kelete is in custody after fleeing the scene. The reason was not clear until Saturday morning, but authorities said the deterioration was not a factor. Kelete, 27, was charged with two counts of vehicular assault, according to KIRO-TV. Bail has been denied.
The highway had been closed for over an hour when the car passed through the crowd. The Washington State Patrol tweeted images of the car involved, a white Jaguar that had damage to the bumper and windshield.
Washington State Patrol Captain Ron Mead said at a press conference early in the morning that the interstate highway had been closed for protests for 19 straight days, the Seattle Times reported. Mead said Saturday that the interstate highway “is simply not a safe place” for protests.
The protests have taken place in Seattle since George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25. The police earlier this week broke the “busy” protest area of the city, known as “Capitol Hill Busy Protest,” or CHOP, after two fatal shootings in the area.
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