The driver who executed Black Lives Matter activist accused of vehicular manslaughter
The driver who executed Black Lives Matter activist accused of vehicular manslaughter
Dawit Kelete’s bail has been set at $1.2 million.
On Wednesday (July 8), a Seattle man was accused of vehicular manslaughter, vehicular ambush, and foolish driving after he drove his vehicle into a gathering of Black Lives Matter dissenters, harming one individual and killing another.
Dawit Kelete is presently being held at King County Correctional Facility and his bail is as of now set at $1.2 million. As indicated by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, two of the charges, vehicular crime and vehicular attack, are lawful offenses. He could confront over 13 years in jail.
Kelete was driving a white Jaguar when he blasted through the dissidents at a quickened speed on Saturday (July 4) morning. Summer Taylor, one of the nonconformists, died later at the medical clinic. Diaz Love, another nonconformist, is as of now in the emergency clinic in genuine condition.
“I’m alive and stable,” Love posted on Facebook. “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 continued, “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.”
As indicated by the investigator’s office, Kelete “drove at freeway speeds in lane one toward the barricade of three vehicles” and eventually “continued driving at freeway speeds on the shoulder,” passing the barrier of vehicles. “Before him were running pedestrians” and he “veered sharply left and directly into” the two demonstrators “who were not able to run off the road.”
After the mishap, he was given a field sobriety test for medications and liquor and passed. “The driver was reserved and appeared sullen throughout his time in custody,” Trooper James McGuire noted in the arrest report. “At one point, he asked if the injured pedestrians were okay.”
Kelete’s lawyer John Henry Browne said the crash was a “horrible, horrible accident,” but was not intentional. “There’s absolutely nothing political about this case whatsoever,” the attorney told The Associated Press. “My client is in tears. He’s very remorseful. He feels tremendous guilt.”
