A girl lost her life and another got injured in an accident when a man drove his car into the ‘Black Lives Matter protest’ going on in Washington state.
The incident took place on Saturday, July 4, when the nightly protest was taking place on a closed stretch of Interstate 5 in Seattle. The deceased woman, Summer Taylor (age 24) and injured man, Diaz Love (age 32) were taking part in that ‘Black Femme March’ protest.
Troopers from Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDO) blocked the ramps using their vehicles to stop protestors who were about to enter the road after their nightly march.
According to the Seattle Times report, the witnesses of the accident saw the white car heading south, at around 1:30 am. The car was coming at a quite high speed and veered through two vehicles, that were placed on the road as the barrier, before hitting the protestors.
The car hit both Diaz and Summer and sent them flying into the air, and the driver fled away from the spot. However, the police caught the driver, Dawit Kelete, 2 miles away from the accident scene.
Both Summer and Diaz were taken to a nearby hospital, Harborview Medical Center, where Summer couldn’t make it and tragically passed away. Whereas, Diaz was taken to the intensive care unit since he was in serious condition.
It is reported that Diaz was live-streaming the march at the time of the accident but had to abruptly end it after hearing the people shouting “car!” and the sound of screeching tires. The spectators of the incident believed that it wasn’t the accident as the driver didn’t even pull brakes or tried to stop.
One of the eyewitnesses, Aaron, said: “I don’t know what happened, but it didn’t seem like an accident at all. He didn’t hit his brakes, he didn’t stop.”
Summer used to take part in the protests to show her support for Black Lives Matter as per her former colleague.
As a result of the accident, the State Patrol has banned protests in the Interstate till any further notice.