A Seattle protester was killed and another was injured after a man drove his car onto a freeway that was shut down by police on Sunday, The Associated Press reports.
Summer Taylor, who worked at a veterinarian clinic in Portland, was killed when Dawit Kelete drove around police vehicles blocking the freeway and sped into the crowd at around 1:40 am.
Video posted to social media shows Kelete’s white Jaguar swerving around cars and sending two protesters flying in the air.
Kelete fled the scene but a protester gave chase and blocked him in about a mile down the road.
Diaz Love, a 32-year-old protester from Oregon, is in intensive condition after being hit.
Kelete was charged with two counts of vehicular assault and was denied bail.
Taylor was “dedicated the cause”:
Taylor had spent the previous six weeks “tirelessly standing up for others while working full time and supporting everyone around them,” the Urban Animal vet clinic, where Taylor worked, posted on Instagram.
Taylor was a “positive force of nature,” the post said.
“Anyone that works for Urban Animal will tell you that Summer Taylor’s laugh makes any bad day better.”
“Summer has been there since day one standing up for Black lives. Staying out all day and night, while still working full time taking care of animals,” said Katelyn Hoberecht, Taylor’s co-worker. “Summer talked to me about the protests, and how incredible it was to be a part of something so huge. A part of history.”
Investigation underway:
Police are still investigating the motive for the attack and how Kelete managed to get on the freeway.
Police said they suspect Kelete drove the wrong way on an exit ramp and went through a barrier.
Alcohol and drugs are not believed to have been a factor.
Kelete lives in Seattle and graduated from Washington State in 2017.
Washington State Patrol said it would no longer allow protesters on the freeway after they shut it down for 19 days in a row.
