A Seattle man who drove into a protest on a closed section of Interstate 5 over the weekend, killing one demonstrator, was charged on Wednesday with vehicular homicide, vehicular assault and reckless driving, local station KOMO-TV reports
Authorities said that Dawit Kelete, 27, was driving a white Jaguar XJL when he drove into the demonstrators “at a high rate of speed” early on Saturday morning, striking two protesters.
One of them, Summer Taylor, 24, of Seattle, died later that day at the hospital. Another protester, Diaz Love, 32, of Portland, Ore., was hospitalized in serious condition.
“Mr. 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 barricade of cars, the prosecutor’s office said.
“Before him were running pedestrians,” and Mr. Kelete “veered sharply left and directly into” two demonstrators “who were not able to run off the road,” the office said.
King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said Kelete is being held with bail set at $1.2 million and is expected to remain in jail. Two of the charges, vehicular homicide and vehicular assault, are felonies, a spokesman for the prosecuting attorney’s office said.
Kelete could face more than 13 years in prison, said the spokesman, Casey McNerthney.