Protester seriously injured Saturday by car on I-5 in Seattle has Bellingham ties
One of two women who hit by a car during a Black Femme March demonstration early Saturday on a closed Interstate 5 in Seattle has ties to Bellingham, according to a Washington State Patrol release on the incident.
Diaz Love, 32, whom the state patrol said is from Bellingham, remains in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the Associated Press reported Monday, July 6.
Dawit Kelete drove the car around vehicles that were parked on Interstate 5 to protect a group of Black Femme March demonstrators, hit two people and sped away at about 1:40 a.m. Saturday, the state patrol said.
The Seattle man was the owner of the Jaguar XJL and was alone in the car, according to a state patrol report submitted to the court late Saturday.
The protesters screamed and scattered as the car approached. A graphic video shows the vehicle approaching at a high rate of speed. It appeared to swerve slightly as it came toward two people still in the road. The car slid sideways as it hit the two protesters, sending them into the air. The driver turned on his flashers just after impact, and drove away.
Summer Taylor, a 24-year-old veterinary clinic worker from Seattle, according to a Seattle Times story, suffered critical injuries in the incident and died Saturday night.
The Times reported Love was from Portland, Oregon, and her Facebook account said she is from Boise, Idaho, but her social media accounts also show she lived in Bellingham as recently as 2017.
“I’m alive and stable,” Love posted on Facebook late Sunday. “In a lot of pain. I cannot believe Summer was murdered. If they thought this murder would make us back down, they are very wrong. Very wrong.”
Love also said: “My FB is filled with death threats, that and only being able to use one hand has me going slow. I deeply appreciate and feel all the love y’all are sending me.”
After Kelete was stopped by state troopers, he agreed to take a field sobriety test for drugs and alcohol. The tests showed he was not impaired, the state patrol said.
“The driver was reserved and appeared sullen throughout his time in custody,” Trooper James McGuire wrote in the arrest report. “At one point he asked if the injured pedestrians were okay.”
Kelete was booked into the King County Correctional Facility on Saturday morning on two counts of vehicular assault.
A judge found probable cause to hold Kelete on an investigation of vehicular assault.
According to the state patrol release on the incident, the freeway was closed for protest activity at 11:56 p.m. Friday, nearly two hours before Taylor and Diaz were hit.
A tweet by Trooper Rick Johnson on Sunday said, “WSP’s stance of allowing protesters onto I-5 has not changed. We continue to encourage protestors not to enter the freeway and will still be arresting protestors who choose to do so.”
In a follow up tweet, Johnson said, “Public safety remains our top priority. Our goal is to keep I-5 open in both directions through Seattle, but we will not hesitate to close it for the safety of motorists, protestors, and WSP personnel.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
This story was originally published July 6, 2020 at 11:43 AM.
