This archive report was first published on 5 July 2020.
On July 4, 2020, a car drove into a protest on a closed section of Interstate 5 in Seattle, leaving two people seriously injured.
Summer Taylor, a 24-year-old Seattle resident, died at Harborview Medical Center on the same day, according to a UW Medicine spokeswoman.
The other injured protester, Diaz Love, 32, of Portland, Oregon, was hospitalized in serious condition, the spokeswoman said.
Both Taylor and Love had livestreamed the protest before they were injured, as reported by The Seattle Times.
According to Trooper Chase Van Cleave of the Washington State Patrol, a small group of protesters had gathered on a section of Interstate 5 that had been blocked off by the authorities, as part of the ongoing protests since the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis in May.
The protesters had been on the highway for over an hour when a white car drove southbound through a blockade and toward the protesters at a high rate of speed, striking both victims, Trooper Van Cleave said.
The driver, Dawit Kelete, 27, was booked into the King County Jail on a charge of vehicular assault, according to jail records.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan expressed her condolences on Twitter, saying, “Early this morning two women were hit by a car and very seriously injured while peacefully protesting. Many others were almost hit and witnessed this horrific event. Our city stands beside their friends, families and loved ones in praying for these women and all who were there.”
