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The driver who unintentionally rammed into two far-left “protesters” who’d been standing in the middle of a closed freeway early Saturday morning in Seattle has been identified as a black man, thus destroying the narrative that the incident had been a “white supremacist attack.”
“Dawit Kelete of Seattle drove the car around vehicles that were blocking Interstate 5 and sped into the crowd about 1:40 a.m., according to a police report released by the Washington State Patrol. Video taken at the scene by protesters showed people shouting ‘Car! Car!’ before fleeing the roadway,” the Associated Press reported Sunday.
Watch footage from the incident below:
Protestors 🛑 STOP protesting on the roadway. You will likely get run over. 🚷 pic.twitter.com/tTWePcCetC
— 🇺🇸🦅M💥A💥G💥A🦅🇺🇲 (@BlessUSA45) July 4, 2020
As word of the incident went viral, accusations of “white supremacy” began to trend among far-leftists on social media.
“Right-wing extremists in Seattle drove a car into a crowd of #BlackLivesMatter protesters on a closed portion of Interstate 5. Two women were struck, one with life-threatening injuries. They flew into the air before landing on the ground,” one far-left Twitter account wrote in a since-deleted tweet, as reported by NewsOne.
According to investigative journalist Andy Ngo, other left-wing accounts claimed “without evidence that the incident was a Charlottesville-style far-right attack“:
The man who hit two Black Lives Matter protesters on the freeway in Seattle is a black man. Left-wing activists on social media claim without evidence that the incident was a Charlottesville-style far-right attack. Both victims sustained serious injuries. https://t.co/scx15rlHVu
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 4, 2020
Yet as the photos below show, the perpetrator, Dawit Kelete, is black:
His name was Dawit Kelete he is of Ethiopian ancestry. While I suppose he could be a right win fascist uhm NO HE isn’t. pic.twitter.com/IcN1kvjT8A
— Hontas Farmer (@Hontas_Farmer) July 5, 2020
The girls he hit were white. He is a Black DoorDash Guy. His social media shows he likes many white girls. Doesn’t look like a white supremacist racist to me. Meet luxury Jaguar owner Dawit Kelete. It was the protestors fault, not his. pic.twitter.com/UZ60IdLUbB
— 🌽 Country Kari 🌽 (@KariKristiansn) July 5, 2020
“An Instagram page credited to a person named Dawit Kelete showed multiple photos of a Black man having fun in various settings that resembled college life at Washington State University. The man in those Instagram photos appeared to be the same person in the photos circulating on social media,” NewsOne reported.
“A LinkedIn page credited to a person named Dawit Kelete identified him as a sales manager as well as an operations manager for DoorDash in Seattle. His education was listed as Washington State University.”
It appears he’s neither a white supremacist nor a black supremacist. He’s just a guy who made a gargantuan mistake and now faces at least two charges.
“Kelete was booked into the King County Correctional Facility on Saturday morning on two counts of vehicular assault. Bail was denied,” the AP reported.
“A judge found probable cause to hold Kelete on an investigation of vehicular assault. He faces a second court hearing on Monday at which the judge will determine if he can be released on bail, according to court documents.”
The problem is that one of the victims, Summer Taylor, has since died, meaning he could soon be facing manslaughter charges as well.
Summer Taylor, a non binary Black Lives Matter activist who was hit by a car while protesting on the I-5 freeway in Seattle, has died. Dawit Kelete, who is black, is accused of being the driver & was arrested. pic.twitter.com/Lr6Jp3BkzO
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 5, 2020
#SeattleProtests – Protesters take 5 minutes of silence to observe Summer Taylor’s passing. Phone lights are on and flowers passed out. #WestlakePark pic.twitter.com/9UTKMSeOQr
— Omari Salisbury (@Omarisal) July 5, 2020
AP names Dawit Kelete as the suspect in the vehicular assaults this morning on the freeway. I haven’t seen police confirm but a Kelete was booked this morning on two counts of vehicular assault. pic.twitter.com/tRrPXwbIOB
— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) July 4, 2020
What’s up for debate is whether he deserves to face any charges. On one hand, he purposefully drove onto a freeway that had been closed to accommodate “protesters.”
According to Washington State Patrol Capt. Ron Mead, the freeway had been closed for over an hour when the incident occurred.
“Mead said they suspect Kelete drove the wrong way on a ramp. Trooper Rick Johnson said the driver went through a barrier that closed the freeway before striking the women,” the AP noted.
But on the other hand, why had the two women — Taylor and Diaz Love, 32, the latter of whom was in serious condition in the ICU as of Sunday morning — been in the middle of the freeway in the middle of the night in the first place?
See some of the ongoing debate below:
Not an unforeseeable result of protesting on a freeway. The man isn’t guilty of anything.
— DiGriz (@TheDigriz) July 5, 2020
I don’t think driver should be charged. Stupid asses wear all black at night, block available lanes of an interstate, then stand in the road to protest. My toddler knows not to stand in the road. No loss. Not a brilliant mind by any means.
— TheBrokeBrick (@broke_brick) July 5, 2020
They blocked a freeway and he tried to go around and hit her. They need to stop blocking traffic. It’s not safe and blocking people from going home or emergency vehicles from moving doesn’t help your cause
— Big Redd (@BigReddXcel) July 5, 2020
Sadly, Mr Kelete is in jail, with a damaged car, because a priveleged white person was jaywalking in the freeway. And who goes to jail? Not the white person who was at fault, but a black man. True racial injustice.
— catskinner78 (@catskinner78) July 5, 2020
The two comrades struck by a car last night are reportedly in critical condition, this was an act of terrorism
— Youth Liberation Front Seattle Division (@seattleYLF) July 4, 2020
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Vivek@bizpacreview.com
V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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